More Than Business
by Cat Alex
Summary: On hiatus. Kaiba and Serenity are forced to work together, but become entangled in not only in work problems, but also that of Joey's jealousy and the appearance of a mysterious figure desperate to interfere with Serenity's life...
1. It Always Begins with a Bang

**More than Business**

**By Cat Alex**

**Chapter One: It Always Begins with a Bang**

Serenity Wheeler grinned as her beloved blond brother pulled a twisted face at Tristan, who laughed along with the rest of the gang sitting around the cafeteria table in Domino's local college.

"That's what you said to him?" she gasped, her already large innocent brown eyes widening in a transfixed disbelief, "That's what you said to Kaiba?"

"You bet I did, Sis! I don't let that rich boy push _me_ around!" Joey thumped his chest with an arrogant grin and Tristan shook his head with incredulity, while Yugi listened with interest and Tea covered her mouth as she continually giggled at the elaborately detailed story Joey had told.

"I was right there and witnessed it myself, but I still couldn't believe he was so publicly rude to the guy. I swear Kaiba's face went purple from rage," Tristan commented, quickly stealing a glance at Serenity while Tea giggled mercilessly, leaving Serenity to bury her head in her hands. Still after five years Tristan had a crush on her, but he refused to act on it not wishing not to jeopardise his friendship with Joey and it still made her kind of uncomfortable whenever he was around.

"What is it, Sis? Didn't embarrass you or somethin', did I?" Joey asked her with concern on his face and she lifted her head from her hands, an uncertain smile making its way across her delicate rose lips.

"No, I just can't believe you're my brother sometimes!" she told him nervously, then threw her arms around him affectionately.

"You're so _brave_!" she explained, shining with pride for her brother, and he grinned, hugging her back.

After the reunion between them, Serenity and Joey had been inseparable for the past five years. Admittedly, now they were all studying at college, Serenity had taken a place at Domino College along with them; they didn't see as much of one another anymore but were settling in nicely to their lives. Serenity for the first time in a long while was happy and the regaining of her sight thanks to her brother had given her the incredible lust for life.

Yugi sat looking about with a smile glazed across his face as he took in the warm atmosphere their table had. He felt a swell of achievement at how far they had all come over five years.

'_So much companionship and teamwork-'_

BZZZZT

The buzzer hailing the end of lunch interrupted his thoughts and made Serenity let go of her brother with a startled expression, which turned into mild panic and Joey watched her with wonder at her swift change of facial movements.

"Oh no! Got to go to class! It's business now!" she jumped up and grabbed her navy bag before flying out of the cafeteria and down the corridor and left the rest of the group sitting in stunned silence for a moment.

"Well, she's certainly throwing herself into college," Tea remarked, not particularly willing to leap up for her dance class and the group nodded thoughtfully.

"But that's a good thing, right? She's smart an' she'll get a good job in retail an' stuff. Maybe one day she'll have her own business empire," Joey decided and stood with the others.

"Well, better head off," Tristan gave a casual nod and walked off, swiftly followed by Tea calling for him to wait up for her. Tea seemed to be doing that a lot lately, not that anybody – especially Tristan – noticed.

Yugi shook his head and stood up, picking up his neat satchel and securing it on his shoulder. He couldn't help but wonder why everyone was in such a hurry today, when he always thought of Monday's at college like wading through water, everyone all washed up from the weekend and grousing about having to work when they felt so disorientated.

"People really need to relax, Joey," he said as Joey pulled on his trademark green jacket and slung his backpack over a shoulder.

"You're tellin' me Yugi. Relaxation is the key to my studies," he said running a hand nonchalantly through his hair and Yugi shook his head as if he couldn't believe Joey would say such a thing.

"Joey, half the time you sleep in class!" he chastised the taller boy and Joey shrugged and began to head out of the dining hall, followed by Yugi weaving past the other students to keep up.

"Yeah, well, that's just how I operate, all right?!" Joey said offhandedly and suddenly stopped in his tracks, causing Yugi to bump into his back and give a muffled yelp or surprise.

"Hey, do you reckon Serenity made it to her class in one piece? She was runnin' kinda fast," he voiced his concern for his treasured sister while Yugi meticulously dusted himself down.

"I think Serenity is big enough to handle herself now, don't you? She's twenty now," Yugi told Joey firmly and the tall boy spun around.

"I know, I know, but I wish I hadn't taken part in that Battle City fiasco, or I wouldn't be retaking all my classes again like a dummy! I don't know how you guys did it, Yugi!" he replied with a look of slight confusion and Yugi modestly shrugged.

"Well, you know me, Joey – I like to keep my life up to date. And you'd have to ask the others yourself," he humbly replied.

Yugi was now training as a teacher within Domino College and preparing to take a position as an assistant teacher in Domino High. He believed it had good career prospects and could give him a good audience which to promote morals his grandpa had taught him as well as the reward of expanding young minds and showing them the world. His grandpa was so proud of him - Yugi couldn't help but feel proud of what he'd achieved over five years of hard work. Admittedly many of the trials of the Duel had caused problems with classes and extended his three year course to a five year course, like many of the group, but he still had worked extremely hard when he was studying. The twenty one year old had become a mild mannered man who still loved to Duel, but also put in a considerable amount of dedication to his new path as a teacher as well as managing to grow to a five foot six frame and retain his unruly hair. He looked a little more like Yami Yugi every day. Joey, on the other hand, had bombed out on his high school exams and had spent his time catching up, only now moving on to a college course in Physical Education in order to pursue a career in a gym. However, on many occasions he has been distracted by a certain woman who now hung around college since she didn't require a job. Mai Valentine. The woman couldn't get enough of Joey and his dumbness and sometimes Yugi and even Joey questioned her motives as to what she saw in the man.

Joey sighed and gave Yugi a nod.

"Have fun buddy – I'll see you this evenin'," he gave a wave and jogged upstairs, leaving Yugi to disappear into his class, leaving the corridors devoid of life…

Meanwhile, Serenity positively sprinted along the corridor, eager not to miss the start of class and cascaded down a flight of stairs to the lower part of the college where she took her business classes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Most of the rest of her time was taken up with her Business class homework or helping around her and Joey's flat they had scraped money together with dead-end jobs to keep hold of. Though Serenity appeared to toil for much of the week, it didn't mar her soft, gentle beauty she held. She had become the most benevolent twenty year-old in the entire college. She generally kept her head down and did all her work, but with her new sight, her boisterousness was finally beginning to emerge, along with a willingness to hold her ground for what she believed in. She clattered along the hard tile floor with her solid flat-soled sensible shoes, nearly at her class. She was just beginning to wish she had left earlier to account for the distance from the canteen to her class when-

WHAM

-she ran straight into someone or something and was sent flying backwards onto the floor. The force of the impact and the smooth, not to mention cold, tile flooring made her skid and slide across the floor with a distressed scream. The thing she had hit gave a sort of surprised grunt and she gathered her bearings enough to look up to see what it was.

He loomed over her and her mouth formed a shocked 'O' as Seto Kaiba, the man who had been very recently teased childishly that very day by her brother, looked at her with shadowed eyes of contempt.

"Watch where you're going," he snapped and went to leave until Serenity gave an indignant, "Huh!" to which he turned back again with a glare.

"What?" he barked in annoyance and Serenity bit her lip with fear as she stood, fearing she'd already put Kaiba in a temper. She was perfectly well aware of the less than friendly relationship Kaiba and her brother had, but hoped that just because she was related wouldn't mean she'd be made into a target.

"You could at least say sorry for knocking me over. I'm sorry I ran into you," she explained, giving her flowing yellow summer dress a self-conscious brush as Kaiba eyed her critically.

'_It doesn't walk like a Wheeler and certainly doesn't talk like a Wheeler. But it is a Wheeler – that whining says it all,'_ Kaiba scowled to himself and clenched his jaw with agitation.

"I don't apologise to Wheeler's," he said through gritted teeth and Serenity's face relaxed as she failed to pay attention to his words.

"Thank yo- hey! You didn't apologise!" she called as he swept around, his dark trench coat whirling about excessively, and began to walk down the corridor to room 4B.

Inside her, a part of her mind clicked and she felt a surge of anger emanate toward this man she could barely say she met. She knew he was in her business class taking some kind of master degree. He spent most of his time with his huge corporation and sacrificed a lot of time to work rather than complete his degree, leaving him in this class for the past three years when he should have fast tracked it to an exam. But here he remained, the sullen man who said little to nothing each class Serenity attended to the point that she didn't even notice him there, despite his unusual looks and clothes to boot.

With a baring of her teeth, she stormed angrily up to the towering departing man and grabbed his arm, giving it a hard tug to make him face her.

"Apologise!" she heatedly commanded and Kaiba burned his eyes into her with anger at this impetuous treatment. He easily pulled his arm out of her grip and grabbed her shoulders, thrusting his face so it was inches from hers.

"I am Seto Kaiba and _no-one_ tells me who to apologise to! Especially those related to Joey Wheeler," he growled and her face paled as the handsome, but terribly infuriated face of Kaiba denounced her and her brother.

"Don't insult Joey!" she protested and tried to shake his strong grip off her, but he wouldn't let go of her shoulders, making her wince slightly, convinced that there would be marks to show later.

Kaiba stared into her brown eyes and, for the first time since he had been in his business class, he _noticed_ her. As far as he'd been concerned there was a girl related to Wheeler in his class and that was not a good thing, so he took the liberty to ignore her and everyone else around him in Business. People weren't his concern, only his corporation and his responsibility to Mokuba, though the boy was now a seventeen year-old heartbreaker, refusing to indulge in girl's simply because he was too used to the freedom he'd been given for the last five or more years and so thrived on his rich boy lifestyle. It didn't stop him from charming the ladies, though.

Kaiba's thoughts centred on the struggling woman before him and he wasn't sure what to do, which made him even angrier, this time at himself. How could he make important decisions day to day about a massive worldwide corporation since the age of fifteen, yet now at twenty three he couldn't decide whether to let a poor pretty girl go or grip onto her like a vice?

Suddenly his hands released Serenity and she paused for a moment to frown threateningly at the tall skinny man before smacking him as hard as she could on the arm.

"That was so rude! Apologise!" she persisted. Honour was quite a highly regarded virtue in her family and no way was she going to back down from a rich man who was too used to having his way all the time!

Kaiba couldn't believe she had even dared to think about striking him, as pathetic a blow it was, and went to rush at her – if only for a cheap spook for his amusement - causing Serenity to step abruptly backwards. In a flash her face changed to horror as she tripped into the 4B door, which swung open from the impact, and she fell backwards into nothingness.

Instincts took Kaiba over and he instantly pitched forward and reached his arms out, managing to pull her into his arms before she toppled to the ground so they looked as if they were in the middle of some kind of warped dancing competition.

The two eyed each other in surprise at the situation they had ended up in while their commotion caused the class to swivel their heads around to see what was going on. Kaiba and Serenity lifted their heads up to see the class gazing back and a blush filtered into Serenity's cheeks, partly from her head being angled towards the floor.

"And I see we have two volunteers," a stern voice said coldly from the front of the class.

A/N: Hey everybody! I've been through this and tried to flesh it out as best as possible, but I'm always a bit of a slow start and get into it. I'm putting up the first three chapters together and keeping all the rest I've done (I'm on seven at the moment) until I've gone through them as thoroughly as I can. I just want people to get a feel for what I'm going for right now. Hope you like it!


	2. It’s your Fault!

**Chapter Two: It's your Fault!**

As soon as the words had left their teacher's mouth, they glared ferociously at one another. Kaiba straightened and let Serenity go, so she stepped back and steadied herself, then reluctantly turned around.

"I'm really sorry, Mr. Bamako, but we were held up in a… an altercation," she nervously explained, putting on a helpless smile. Mr. Bamako remained stony faced and motioned for the two to take the two empty seats at the back.

Kaiba completely ignored Serenity and sat himself down while Serenity busied herself with shutting the door and settling herself with her Business folder and stationary in front of her.

Kaiba however began to think about what Mr. Bamako had said and didn't like what he was thinking he had said at all.

"Aren't you going to say sorry for your lateness and the mayhem that was caused?" Mr. Bamako's eyes glared at Kaiba and Serenity dreaded what was about to happen.

Returning Mr. Bamako's glare, Kaiba narrowed his icy eyes to subzero temperatures in an instant.

"Volunteers?" he questioned, ignoring the request for an admission of guilt, his eyebrows arched enquiringly. It was partly inquiring, partly a challenging of Kaiba's authority over Mr. Bamako's deemed power.

Mr. Bamako's face filled momentarily with ferocity before sinking into defeated blankness. He was not willing for some element of Kaiba Corp to ruin his life today.

"You two are to be our class's representative for the college inspection in six month's time. In that time you shall work together on a presentation as if you are planning a business. You shall be given money for field tests in order to prove the business venture you're going to develop together is viable – proof it works," the man explained with a spark of excitement glinting in his eyes.

Kaiba's blood ran cold at the notion of having to spend half a year of his life working with Serenity, sister of one of the most annoying people he had ever met and he frowned deeply.

"We didn't volunteer," he snarled in a silky voice and Mr. Bamako shook his head.

"It doesn't matter. I've picked you two – you're proof that businesses can be run at a young age - and very well, I suppose I must add. Serenity here has done some marvellous theory work which is showing signs that she's got quite the head for picking a good venture – she's in touch with what people want," he explained and Kaiba and Serenity shared a fierce glare at one another before both turning their anger on Mr. Bamako.

"But we-!"

"Listen, you can't make me-!"

"-can't possibly work together, I mean-!"

"-do anything I don't want to! I'm Seto Kaiba and-!"

"-it's not fair-!"

"-it's not my fault, it's hers!"

"-it's not my fault, it's his!"

They argued their case in unison and after their outburst Mr. Bamako impatiently waved them quiet and shook his head, putting his foot firmly down on the matter, his dark eyes glinting warningly.

"I will not reverse my decision. You shall work together whether you like it or not! End of discussion, please. Now class, let us move on to our textbooks, page eighty-five…" he closed the subject with a glare at the two of them and Serenity gave the evillest eye she could manage at Kaiba, while he focused his frosty navy eyes on Serenity with laser intensity until the two cracked under each others stares and refused to make any eye contact for the rest of the lesson, which now seemed painfully slow for the two.

Serenity's mind raced with questions that begged not to be answered. How Joey would handle the news was going to be a tough one. He was definitely not going to be happy in the slightest about this arrangement. Six months working with his least favourite person was going to drive Joey up the wall for sure. Serenity was confident that her working with Kaiba even for a day would be out of the question with Joey. Serenity wasted time in lesson not paying attention in class for the first time since she began her business class by planning how to break the news to him. It largely revolved around a large plate of food to distract him as she blurted it and took refuge from the fallout in her small room.

Eventually, though, class drew to a close, but just as Serenity planned to escape, Mr. Bamako called over the din of packing up and chatting, "Mr. Kaiba and Miss. Wheeler shall stay behind until I have had a word with them!"

Serenity managed a private groan of despair as she tidied her things away into her bag, while Kaiba openly glared threateningly with his scornful blue eyes, then shoved his work into a massive suitcase he could have wielded as a weapon.

When all the students had drained out of the class, Mr. Bamako beckoned for the two to approach his desk, which they reluctantly did while still carefully ignoring one other, causing Mr. Bamako to sigh heavily.

"Please would you two act your ages?" he asked wearily, habitually fiddling with his dark brown beard, and Serenity snuck a look out of the corner of her eye guiltily to see Kaiba do the exact same thing.

"I really need you two to work on this project for the next six months for me. This inspection will contribute heavily to the college receiving a prestige award along with a large grant that the college needs. Our part in the inspection is just as important as the rest. You shall have shining recommendations for future employment as I will personally make sure what a grand undertaking you, well, took. Now, I know you two don't appear to get along from what I've seen today-"

"You better believe it," Kaiba muttered and Mr. Bamako rested his eyes on Kaiba for a moment before continuing.

"As I was saying… I picked you two for a reason. You're probably the best student's in this class and I trust the two of you to do the job well," he encouraged and Kaiba could see Serenity's eyes glimmer with pride from where he stood and his heart froze with the thought of having to work with one of his most annoying enemy's sister.

Mr. Bamako proceeded to outline business ideas to get them started, which made Serenity fidget next to Kaiba to the point he wanted to throttle her. He stood straight and barely moved, which Serenity believed must have been taught to him or he had some kind of stick up his ass.

After half an hour of talking, Mr. Bamako finally let them go and stopping them again only to dig out of his desk draws a massive load of paperwork which he told them would come in handy.

A moment of silent indecision passed between Kaiba and Serenity over who took the papers, which prompted Kaiba to snatch them out of his teacher's hands and put them in an empty folder within his killer briefcase.

Kaiba then took his case and swept out of the without a backward glance. Serenity frowned at Kaiba and went to leave, but paused to give Mr. Bamako a wave, then hurried after Kaiba.

"Wait up!" she called as she saw him disappear round the corridor's corner. She pursued him, eventually trotting along next to him to keep up with his long legged strides.

"Is that's what you're going to do now – shut me out?" she asked and Kaiba stopped, turned to her and looked hard into her eyes, which made Serenity squirm slightly.

"I don't need your help," was all he said and he turned on his heel and began walking again.

Serenity couldn't help herself and reached out, took his arm in one hand and halted him. He sighed as if he was really tiring of her and faced her.

"I have run Kaiba Corporation for the last eight years of my life and it's thriving beyond the Big Five's dreams. Because of the decisions _I_ made. I don't need you to help me get this project because I can handle it just fine. You'll only get in the way," he told her firmly and continued on to the double doors, Serenity's hand slipping off his arm.

He exited the college and strolled across the grass to call for his chauffeur, whipping his phone out of his trench coat pocket and had a snappish conversation with his chauffeur before putting his phone away. He realised that Serenity was standing patiently next to him, watching him with interest.

"What are you still doing near me?" he asked irritably and an expression of interest crossed her face as she prepared herself to venture into unknown waters and taunt him. The way he was behaving as if he was King of the World was annoying her and she felt like biting back, her eyes narrowing witheringly.

"Do you always talk to your staff like that?" she enquired, pointedly ignoring his question.

"I've had a bad day," he stated meaningfully and Serenity looked hurt, her mouth briefly opening to retort, but quickly snapped shut as she took the time to come back with a reasonable answer.

"I'm staying here until you allow me to help on the project. Mr. Bamako assigned me to the project too for a reason!" she exclaimed and Kaiba rolled his eyes, mentally discarding her words in favour of his own opinions.

"Please leave me alone," he told her and watched her, waiting patiently for her to leave, as if this would finally finish the conversation. Serenity watched him wait for a moment before valiantly stepping up to him, her eyes locked threateningly with his equally vehement glower.

"I won't," she said adamantly, and then her brown eyes went wide as she spotted Joey coming towards her with a mixture of confusion and anger on his face.

Kaiba craned his head around to look at what had instilled fear into Serenity and he wondered why she was so afraid of her brother.

'_He is protective of her… and with me, his most hated enemy near his beloved sister, I suppose she should be scared for him,'_ he snickered to himself as Joey came within hearing range.

Kaiba's ruthless streak came to the foreground of his mind and he grinned as he formed a way to anger Joey.

"I'll see you at seven thirty this evening at my mansion. My security will be notified of your arrival and you will be admitted," he told her a little louder than his normally quiet voice, inching his face intimately close to Serenity's for effect and relished the expression of Joey's face as he straightened and turned to leave the college.

Joey's eyes flared and he stomped his way up to Serenity, whose pretty features were blemished with an all encompassing blush that went right down her neck.

"What did that bastard Kaiba mean when he said that? 'Cause you wouldn't be goin' round someone like that's house," Joey pressed her seriously and Serenity wanted to hide her face from her brother.

"Well, you see the thing is we were forced to do this project for the college a-and I didn't want to b-but Mr. Bamako said we were the best students in business to do this presentation to get the college a grant," Serenity faltered and Joey halted his anger for a moment.

"You're one of the best business students in your class?" he changed his tone of rage to disbelief.

"Mm hmm," she nodded and Joey hugged her then pulled back.

"But you can't work with Kaiba! I… I forbid you!" he oscillated back to anger and Serenity shrank back at his command.

"But I can't let Mr. Bamako down! He's got such high hopes for us aiding Domino College - I just _can't_ let him down, working with Kaiba or not," Serenity implored to her brother, but he still held severe reservations.

"But it's Kaiba!" he protested and crossed his arms with a pained frown.

"I know, but I'm the one who's going to have to work with and tolerate him for six months," she explained and Joey's mouth dropped open with appalled shock.

"_Six months?!_" he blurted and shook his head.

"I-I can't accept this Serenity. It's too much," he told her looking hurt. And with that he stalked off, unable to look at her or say anything more, the pain of his adversary even _near_ his sister too much to face at that moment.

Serenity felt her eyes well with tears she couldn't hold back and they spilled down her face. She looked at her feet dejectedly and cursed Kaiba with all her might.

'_How could he?!'_ she raged through her angry hot tears.

It was the most cruel, insensitive thing Serenity had possibly ever witnessed and it hurt her that her brother had been so deeply hurt by this problem, even though it wasn't even her fault!

The fact it wasn't her fault made part of her quite irate. Her brother could be so insensitive himself sometimes, only caring about the terrible enmity between him and Kaiba over Serenity's duty to her college work. Her face melted into disgust at the thought of her 'business' partner.

'_Well let him sulk! I have a duty to follow whether I like it or not!'_ Serenity decided and she angrily wiped her tears away, hiked her slipping bag back onto her shoulder and made her way home to get ready for the trial the evening would bring.

A/N: Well, the second chapter is also a bit short, but I promise you that I make this up in the future – I can't seem to stop writing later on! Once more, hope your liking it as much as I'm having fun writing this!


	3. Joey Sulks while Seto Rages

**Chapter Three: Joey Sulks while Seto Rages**

After Kaiba had sauntered off with a matching expression of disgust at having a business partner, even if it was a fake one and got into his limo glad for the shaded windows to block him from humanity.

"Home, Lanoka. Now," Kaiba snapped at his chauffeur and the man obliged, keeping silent for the whole journey. To dare to talk was to place his job on the line and jobs in the future.

Kaiba was quite pleased with the little stunt he had pulled to infuriate Joey, but he was disappointed to find that a part of him niggled in the back of his mind and played the expression of horror that covered Serenity's face when Joey heard what Kaiba had purposely said quite aloud. She had looked mortified as Joey stormed over and Kaiba felt some anger toward himself for such a petty little stunt that had affected the girl so.

He took out his laptop from a storage space in the side of the limo and distracted himself with Kaiba Corp business. Where there was work, there was no need for emotions or how he impacted upon people. He could forget about the incident he had caused between the Wheeler's and not have to mentally stare into those innocent, hurt coffee coloured eyes, for a while at least.

He began to hate himself for a minute, but it all drifted away as the numbers and figures for Kaiba Corp appeared before him to be commanded as he saw fit. His empire beckoned.

>

Joey was more than mad – he was furious. The last thing he could understand at that point in time was why Serenity would want to uphold her honour to a stupid business teacher in favour of spending half a year – _half a year_ – on some dead-end project with Seto Kaiba, his most hated enemy.

Joey couldn't help but seethe with rage at Kaiba and even his cherished sister as he made his way down the winding streets to his and Serenity's run down neighbourhood. Sure, it wasn't the best district in Domino, but it held an air of honour. The people here were poor, but they held their honour with pride, working and saving until a better job came along.

The emotionally weighed down man let his feet walk himself home for him while he thought of ways to convince Serenity not to help Kaiba, but just let the project go and for Kaiba to deal with it. Joey had the feeling that Kaiba wouldn't want his sister in on the act since she was related to him and all, though Joey was more than tolerant of Mokuba, the only Kaiba Joey got on with.

Nothing came to mind in the interim, which only served to frustrate Joey even more. Even worse, a part of Joey deep down knew that this project had been given was one of the best things that could have happened – that the references she would get from it would appeal to any business job she applied too. This only made him angrier and he kicked a nearby phone box as he walked along the road they lived on, only to wince as pain shot through his foot.

They. He was still going to have to live with her and that was going to be terrible. Joey knew that Serenity was going to mope about the house and perhaps even cry when she saw him sulk.

With a heavy sigh, as if all the weight of the world was on his shoulders, he turned into his block of flats foyer and punched the correct code in, hauled the marginally rusting door open and trudged upstairs to the flat, pausing halfway up to fumble in his bottle green jacket pockets for his keys.

Once the keys were thankfully recovered, he resumed climbing the stairs and grimaced. He didn't want to face this, but with a confident shrug to relax his shoulders a bit, he entered.

>

Kaiba gracefully exited the limo and waved it carelessly away before proceeding to the main door. He fished his key card from his black jeans pocket and slid it through the security device which beeped and a female computer voice requested voice identity.

"Seto Kaiba," he replied listlessly and the machine beeped again, soullessly welcomed him and opened the door with a noisy click from the door lock.

He strolled into the hall area and made his way along the lengthy corridors to the living room. When he finally reached it he dumped his suitcase on a heavy oak desk and shirked his coat off his shoulders before tossing it on one of the two sofas that were in the room.

Kaiba looked around with a frown then checked his watch.

"Mokuba?!" he yelled and left the room, heading for the kitchen. Though they had a large mansion, Kaiba rejected as much help as possible, only employing security and a few cleaners that came when the Kaibas were out. Kaiba liked to keep as little company as possible. No cook was needed because they had all their food delivered weekly to last a normal person a month and any cooked meals they weren't willing to do themselves, they could call any restaurant to deliver what they liked – Kaiba was the magic word in Domino.

Kaiba entered the kitchen to find Mokuba stuffing his face with a sandwich while scribbling on a piece of half crumpled paper. Kaiba couldn't help but wonder how his brother got grades almost the same as him, but never appeared to really work endlessly as he did. Some mysteries though, he contemplatively concluded, were best left alone.

"There you are. I've been looking – I thought you might be out," Kaiba relaxed considerably in the presence of his brother and Mokuba turned to him, giving him a gentle smile and a wave.

"Hey, big brother. Decided to do a bit of homework in here while catching some food. God I hate Maths, but I guess that'll all be over next year. Can kick it in for the high life," Mokuba grinned and Kaiba sighed despairingly at his brother's lack of motivation in his studies.

"The only high life you'll get with only those qualifications is if you consider living on the top floor of one of those nasty flats high," Kaiba darkly joked curling his lip sourly.

Mokuba rolled his eyes at his brother's acid conversation and got up to put the plate in the industrial sized dishwasher. His brother was so intensely focused on studying it was inhuman. Mokuba wasn't the most academic minded person and he preferred to do more active things with his life than coop himself in a room for hours on end like Kaiba did practically everyday, whether it be his studies or working on various Kaiba Corp projects on one of his many laptops. Mokuba had begun to believe that if his brother stayed in the fresh air too long he might suffocate. Mokuba was now a tall lean boy, much the same as his brother, with the same long black hair he'd had all his life. His blue-grey eyes weren't as innocent as they used to be and were framed with nice cheekbones and a well defined jaw he liked to use to lure the ladies with, along with his unashamed charming he loved to employ.

"Seto," he whined, "We've got more than enough money that Dad left us-" Mokuba paused as he realised what he said and sharply shook his head as he saw his brother freeze in horror.

"No - I mean Gozaburo. Dad he– our dad-" Mokuba tried to explain and Kaiba's eyes darkened with hate as a tremor of rage took over.

"Dad did nothing," he spat bitterly and stalked out of the kitchen, up a couple flights of stairs and viciously kicked his lavish bedroom door open, leaving Mokuba to stand with an aghast expression on his attractive face before his eyes clouded over with sadness and he returned gloomily to his schoolwork.

A sensation of revulsion crept up Kaiba's neck as he stalked into his room that made him squirm and throw his shirt off his torso, hurling it onto his large leather computer chair seated behind a giant work desk stacked with an assortment of blueprints for new duelling devices, papers concerning Kaiba Corp and a few hastily scribbled ideas concerning Kaiba Corp, Kaiba's only real focus in life. This project was going to prove an annoying distraction. He took a few angry breaths as memories came out of the dark recesses of his mind and he threw himself onto his bed and breathed into his pillow for a minute before getting up again with a cold face. Gozaburo's teaching and reasoning's over Kaiba's forgotten youth, for now, had won.

Kaiba stripped down and wandered into his en suite bathroom, pausing in his fervent thinking to flip the shower on and step in. He needed to mentally prepare for work and tonight's battle with Serenity. He knew she wasn't going to give up this project without a fight and he needed to be ready for that backlash. The calculating side decided the best course was to tell her straight what he wanted to do and then ignore her, or have her carted off the premises. Kaiba stretched as the hot water coursed down his thin, but toned, body and for the first time in a while he was uncertain on how to handle a situation. Serenity posed a problem simply because she was a person and as much as Kaiba and Mokuba's adoptive father had hammered ruthlessness and business techniques to run a business and survive the incredible power attached to it, he had never explained people. Their reasons, reactions, emotions were all a mystery to Kaiba and this worried him.

'_How is she going to react?'_ he questioned himself with an element of nervousness at her possible violent reaction…

>

"You're a selfish, horrible brother Joey Wheeler!" Serenity shouted fervidly at her brother's closed and firmly locked bedroom door. Serenity knew that Joey was in there somewhere, desperately trying to hide from her wrath. To look at her small delicate frame you wouldn't think she had the strength in her to scream as loud and vehemently, but there she was striving her very being into making Joey feel guilty at his treatment of her outside of college. Receiving the power of sight empowered her in more ways than simply being capable of vision – it gave her the confidence and freedom to become the person she was meant to be, not a timid mouse because she was afraid of hurting herself striving to be independent through her blindness. Now she was able to blossom into the free, boisterous girl she was meant to be – as she had over the last few years - even if it meant the freedom to screech at her beloved brother because he was being such a damn emotionally ruled pig!

She was sick of being a pariah in her own home. The fact it was a small living space made it all the more noticeable and annoying for Serenity. She hated it when she and Joey fought and this was one of the stupidest things yet. It was over a matter she couldn't even help!

"Please…" Serenity said miserably leaning her head against the door, the fire she had a minute ago fading to make way for a flood of melancholy. She just wished he'd come out and stop sulking over such a silly thing. It was selfish, but she was sick of feeling so terrible.

When nothing happened – she couldn't even hear him move inside his room – she assumed he was pretending she didn't exist, sighed and went into her own room next to his and put her bag carefully away in the bottom of her wardrobe, only to remember the papers she left in it and took it out again, shoving the work onto her small desk that was crammed into a corner of an already rather poky room. With a sigh she fell back onto her bed, the day's emotional roller coaster draining her of all energy.

Serenity closed her eyes and tried to picture what was going to happen tonight at the Kaiba's. Her imagination mostly consisted of a hell of a lot of shouting back and forth in an expensive looking room dripping with red and gilt wherever her mind's eye looked.

"Ugh," she said disgustedly, briefly wrinkling her nose and sat up with a frown. Serenity generally fitted her name – she was largely a make-peace-not-war type person, but when events like this happened, her blood boiled. She reopened her wardrobe and rifled through the hangers until she came across a decent outfit to walk into a mansion in. It was a knee length skirt in black along with a nice fitting warm red jumper. Serenity decided it was good enough, not caring what Kaiba would say to her, and laid them out on her bed before heading into the bathroom.

She sighed as the events of the day caught up with her in a disheartening rush. She knew that Kaiba most likely said those things to her before he took off to annoy Joey, but she was going to turn up and work on that project if it killed her.

'_No-one blocks me out of a work project!' _she thought firmly and took a shower while planning how she was going to convince and, failing that, goad or force Kaiba to include her. Whatever amount of complaining it took.

>

Mokuba felt pretty bad when he'd got his words in a muddle in the kitchen. He wished he'd just kept quiet now he thought back to the distressed expression that had emerged on Kaiba's usually quite passive face. He hated upsetting his brother – Mokuba at the age he was now was acutely aware of the amount of sacrifice Kaiba had made for Mokuba to lead the privileged life he was accustomed to. Although Mokuba was an open boy who could talk about nearly anything without much shame and prompt people to do the same with him, his brother held back a huge amount of the years growing up with Gozaburo as a father and what it entailed to become the president of Kaiba Corporation. Mokuba had a vague idea that the cost had been quite dear, but never dared to ask in fear of his brother's reaction. Mokuba secretly had a pretty accurate prediction of his brother's response, but he felt it could be earth shattering and soul destroying, which at the end of the day, would put the company in jeopardy.

With a heavily burdened soul, Mokuba slid off his high stool at the breakfast bar and disappeared into his room, his homework clutched in his hand so tight that the paper began to tear. Mokuba didn't care anymore – the weight of the world rested on his shoulders and he wished he could do something to help Kaiba.

'_Not that Seto would admit he needs help,'_ Mokuba reflected darkly as he made his way up the heavy red carpeted stairs and along the empty unwelcome corridor to his room.

Kaiba had a habit of not receiving help, even in a crisis. Mokuba distinctly recalled the time that Kaiba had sprained his wrist so it needed to be in a sling for at least a week, yet as soon as he had got home he had promptly proceeded to rip it off and resumed working on his laptop, despite the winces Mokuba had caught shivering across Kaiba's face every so often. He worked through the entire injury, despite Mokuba's constant whining about resting it.

'I can't let the company go under because of a foolish injury,' Mokuba remembered Kaiba growling at him after one of the bouts of whingeing he had unleashed on his unmoved brother.

Mokuba sighed, shoved open his bedroom door and put his tattered homework on his already overcrowded desk stuffed with myriads of various work ranging from Kaiba Corp projects he liked to tinker with, bits of schoolwork he hadn't finished and some of his own personal endeavours he'd never show to anyone, not even his brother.

'_If Seto won't talk, I won't ask,'_ Mokuba decided with an unhappy frown that quickly flickered and disappeared as he flopped onto his own comfy couch and flipped his expensive wide screen plasma television on to cruise through the thousands of channels for the next few hours.

>

Serenity peered critically at herself in the mirror and then inspected her clothes. They looked fine – she hastily put on some black tights to cover up her legs and wore her usual pair of flat, plain black shoes.

"There. Nothing he can criticise there," she tilted her chin up impulsively and exited her bedroom. Annoyed at herself that she hadn't grabbed a handful of the papers that Mr. Bamako had handed out to use as a way to definitely get herself inside the mansion, like a ransom, she unhooked her neat black jacket off the coat rack.

"Joey! I know you can hear me! I'm going now – back soon!" she shouted near his shut door, still a little angry at his childish behaviour and left without a backwards glance.

After the door closed, Joey's opened and he blearily looked into their untidy living room for the source of the snappy voice.

"Whaddya say, Sis? I was asleep…" he groggily rubbed his eyes and slowly looked around the apartment only to see no-one was home.

"Ah, damn," he cursed aloud and sat himself heavily on the couch, groped for the remote control to find it buried down the side of the couch and absentmindedly flipped the television on. Since Serenity wasn't here, he took the liberty to forget his anger and focus on the important things in life, like sports.

With a contented smile he drifted into the world of mind numbing television…

>

Kaiba was immaculately dressed in clean black jeans and a casual charcoal grey shirt he deemed perfectly good enough for the job at hand. He didn't really expect Serenity to stay long after she heard what he had to say, which largely consisted of 'go away'.

He picked up his laptop and mammoth suitcase and carried them down to the living room, which he chose for him to work in with Serenity, he presumed, arguing a lot while he ignored her. He had just reached the living room and put his stuff onto the desk when his phone buzzed in his pocket, which he deftly took out and flipped open.

"Yes?" he responded with an aggravated expression and matching tone and the gateman hesitated before he replied.

"_Sir, we've got a girl here who claims you invited her over. A Serenity Wheeler?"_ the gateman gingerly explained and Kaiba couldn't believe he forgot to inform them and felt a slight heat to his cheeks as he imagined what the gateman could draw from Serenity's impromptu arrival.

"Let her in. I'll meet her at the main door," Kaiba said curtly and cut the call. Kaiba could of swore he heard Serenity protesting in the background noise, but decided it was best not to think about it.

He focused for a moment, emotions settled far into the back of his mind, and then brusquely strolled over to the main door, wondering as he walked if he should have apologised to Mokuba.

'_Mokuba understands,'_ Kaiba reasoned, assuring himself and continued on past priceless works of art, that failed to stir either of the Kaiba brothers' hearts, with a blank mind and face.

He reached the door before she did, because he guessed that she was on foot and their drive was at least a five minute walk. He couldn't suppress a private snide laugh at the thought of her hiking her way to the door, then leant against the bottom post of the stairs in the hall with a clearly bored expression.

To his surprise, Serenity made it in three minutes and announced her arrival by unceremoniously banging on the tough doors.

Kaiba leisurely made his way to the door, just to rile her for his amusement, and nonchalantly hit the speaker button.

"Who is it?" he teased and the speaker crackled to life.

"_You know perfectly well! Let me in!"_ Serenity replied without a trace of friendliness and rolling his eyes Kaiba popped the door open before she beat it down.

She entered with a frown and Kaiba couldn't help but take in her tidy outfit that modestly covered her from head to toe.

"I'm here now. We can start this project and get it over with hopefully earlier than Mr. Bamako expects," she told him adamantly and Kaiba raised an eyebrow.

"I think we need to discuss a few of those points," he said with a cold smile and Serenity felt her blood begin to boil once more…

A/N: So there are the first three chapters and hopefully the story is unfolding nicely for the peeps who read it. I'll leave it be for a short while before putting more up – not sure how long, depends on how quick I read through chapter four and check it's okay. Thanks for reading!


	4. The Workaholic and Fear

**Chapter Four: The Workaholic and Fear**

Ever since Joey had been told about the project Serenity had been forced to work on with Kaiba, he'd been sulking. Serenity felt terrible that her brother wasn't talking to her, but there was nothing she could do to get out of it.

Now they were in the living room Kaiba had taken them to and were still arguing after fighting over the project down the mass of corridors and into the room itself.

"Just go and leave it to me. I don't require _your_ help," he reiterated his earlier argument coldly and she jutted her chin out and stomped across the massive living room up to him.

"Well, _too bad_. I'm staying on this project whether you like it or not until we present it to the prestige committee on their visit!" she snapped sharply and Kaiba was mildly surprised at the amount of feistiness she displayed when they conflicted. Her long light brown hair streamed out from her face in her passion while her eyes narrowed with anger, making her little face reflect an angry beauty about her.

Kaiba reluctantly disregarded these thoughts of admiration and instead turned his mind to his own tirade to combat her. He was beginning to wonder why he allowed her to enter his mansion and considered calling security if he began to tire of her bothersome arguing.

"You can stay, but in my house we do things my way," he conceded and was surprised to find he hadn't simply called security and got rid of her at all, which left him in a pondering silence to think.

"We'll see about that," Serenity calmed down and settled herself delicately into a large squashy armchair.

Now Kaiba came to look at her again, he noticed how frail she was; her arms were thin and looked as if he could snap them in a hand, while her whole frame was of delicate proportions – he was amazed that she had such a strong powerful voice that contrasted so greatly to her pale face with almond shaped chocolate brown eyes and petite pink lips that were now pressed together disapprovingly.

He sighed as if she was the most annoying thing in his presence and proceeded to continue working on his laptop on the new project, shuffling through some papers to check on what their teacher wanted from them in their presentation at the end of the whole debacle. Kaiba decided that if he was going to be forced to work on a presentation, then it was going to be a damn good one, unspoilt by Wheeler hands, despite her being recommended as a good business student. He did not care - he was used to working alone on a massive corporation, so a little pathetic project to earn the college brownie points was going to be a breeze.

Serenity ignored Kaiba ignoring her and turned away from him to have a snoop around the giant living room. It was decorated very unobtrusively, with plain slate grey walls and a conservative navy carpet. But it wasn't how it was decorated that caught Serenity's eye - it was the myriad of belongings that had been stuffed into the room. A body of shining silver armour gleamed from its stand next to the giant fireplace, above which held a coat of arms. She slowly stepped over to it for a closer look, reaching up to run a finger across the textured metal when Kaiba cleared his throat, causing her to jerk her hand away and swing round guiltily.

"Don't touch," Kaiba told her in a stony voice and Serenity felt her face grow hot from embarrassment. She went to hurry back to the armchair, but realised Kaiba had gone back to their work. A tiny part of her felt a little hurt that he hadn't taken enough interest in her prying about and so she casually continued to look about. Though the room was bare of colour and had pretty plain furniture – a long sofa, a desk for Kaiba's laptop, another sofa opposite the first and the squashy armchair she'd taken a liking to. Apart from a couple of large display cabinets filled with various, and Serenity assumed priceless, artefacts and pottery, gold and other materials that intrigued her, it had nothing of interest within it. Unable to control her curiosity, she padded over to the furthest cabinet that sat inconspicuously near the thick secure windows. Outside was pitch black and Serenity realised how late it was getting – Joey was going to be mad but she wasn't going to leave until Kaiba let her into the project.

Her eyes were drawn to a beautifully crafted silver ring inset with three diamonds that was nestled in a velvet case lined with silk. It shone ethereally to her and dazzled her eyes as she openly gaped at its beauty.

"It was my mother's," a low voice came from behind her and she gave a jump, twisting her body away from the voice in fear. Her eyes locked with the window and to her shock she saw a pale face stare back at her with penetrating dark eyes before pointing meaningfully at her with a cruel smile and disappearing into the night.

She shrieked at the stranger staring at her and Kaiba didn't know what was wrong, his eyes had lingered a moment too long on the ring and Serenity.

"What's the matter with you?!" he snapped and placed his arms on her shoulders to turn her around. To his surprise, she spun around and pressed herself into his arms, burying her face into his chest in an attempt to shield herself from that chilling stare of the stranger.

Kaiba was alarmed at the sudden turn around Serenity had had with him, but didn't push her away. He could feel her small frame tremble under his arms and he slowly relaxed and placed his arms around her back to try and make her feel safe from whatever had startled her; he was awkward, unused to such actions as comfort, except from when Mokuba was younger and that was now long forgotten.

"What happened?" he asked quietly and Serenity lifted her head to meet his questioning sapphire eyes. Though he really did seem to care about what happened they still had an element of cold hardness precious rocks have, making Serenity all the more fearful of what he'd say when she told him the truth.

"T-there was a man at the window. He was staring at m-me a-and he pointed at me then h-he ran off," she choked out and Kaiba scoffed.

"No-one can get in these grounds without my knowing," he told her seriously and pried her off him, tired of her hanging on to him, leaving her looking drained and defenceless.

Serenity crossed the room to the sofa and curled herself up so her knees were drawn up to her chin, her hands clasped around her knees and took care to ease her sensible shoes off her feet to drop on the floor.

Kaiba remained where he was, his eyes looking through the tough window into the inky blackness suspiciously. A buzzing noise came from the desk and Kaiba swung around with a brief expression of surprise on his face. He strolled across the room to the desk and snatched the mobile phone into his hand, flipping it open and thrusting it to his head.

"Kaiba here," he growled, not wishing to let his guard down.

"_Sir, we had a problem here a minute ago. Uh, a man crossing the grounds_," his head of security nervously explained, fearing the wrath of his boss.

Kaiba glanced at Serenity, who had her head buried into quivering hands, then returned to looking stonily straight ahead at his coat of arms.

"Had?" the words cut across the room like a knife, but Serenity ignored him, the fear the stranger had instilled kept her from making a single noise.

"_Well, we ran into difficulties, sir. We pursued the man, but we think he disappeared into a wall. Er_," the man faltered and Kaiba frowned deeply.

"I don't like the sound of that, Marko," Kaiba told him silkily, "I don't like the sound of that at all. But, I can't fire you otherwise my security would be even more terrible than it already is. I demand that you enhance security by at least fifty percent by tomorrow," he finished and cut the call.

With a heavy, annoyed sigh he placed the phone back on the desk, unenthusiastically wandered over and sat next to Serenity.

"You were right," he told her unemotionally and she peered at him from between her fingers.

"I know. Are you going to apologise?" she whispered and Kaiba snorted.

"Security was at fault. I merely apologise for my security team's incompetence," he replied coldly and Serenity curled herself back up into a ball.

"You're a mean man!" she said in a muffled voice and Kaiba growled, leaning his face toward her half hidden head.

"And you're a stupid girl," he hissed, making her shiver in fear. Her imagination felt like that phantom in the night would have had a voice like that and it stopped her heart dead. There was no-one to turn to here; Kaiba was his usual cold self, save that one moment of… whatever, Serenity didn't know.

She felt the prickle of tears – she had had enough of Kaiba being mean to her, even though she was frightened by that stranger. Something about him had frozen the very core of her soul with unnameable fear and she needed comfort before she went mad.

She unfolded herself and jumped to her feet in a flash, her eyes filled with tears and she flustered her way toward the open door. Just as she reached it, Kaiba inserted his body between her and the door, his cerulean eyes watching her intently.

"What are you doing?" he asked impassively and she tried to move him out of the way, which made him frown and shake her off.

"I-I have to get out of here! That man was e-evil!" she cried fearfully, making Kaiba smirk and cross his arms.

"Evil?" his voice dripped with sarcasm and he leaned close to her face to make his point, "If you think he was so _evil_ surely you won't want to go home in the dark alone when he could still be out there, _waiting_ for you," he teased and she flinched from his words, backing into the centre of the room.

"I-I'm scared!" she exclaimed and Serenity didn't know where to run and hide, the unfamiliar house, no, _mansion_ a labyrinth she was equally afraid to lose herself in. Panic was choking it's way up her throat and she had a definite sense that she was being hunted. Why would someone come for her, she didn't know and she never wanted to find out.

Kaiba began to become sick of hysterics, seeing her eyes wander wildly while her arms were splayed in the air as if looking for somewhere to go, and strode across the room, grabbed her arms and forced her to sit on the sofa, clamping a hand over her mouth before a scream could escape.

"No crying," he commanded and she fell silent, her tear-filled eyes huge with alarm. He rolled his eyes and carefully wiped her tears off her face with a thumb. A part of him felt sorry for her, but his much further developed need to control everything and everyone overrode and he frowned.

"…Please. Be quiet," he paused and ground his teeth as he took a quick glance at his laptop, "You can help with the project if you want."

'_Anything to shut her up,'_ he added mentally to make himself feel better and Serenity's face brightened slightly.

"Really?" she asked hopefully, her voice muffled under his hand. He quickly removed it, forgetting he even had it there and she threw her arms around him in an embrace, glad she had one less wall to fight against.

"Thank you!" she trilled cheerily, the phantom man temporarily forgotten and Kaiba looked down at her clinging to him. He reluctantly found himself smiling a little and quickly it disappeared replaced with a frown.

"Forgot that man quick," he muttered and she let him go and covered her mouth with both hands daintily.

"That _thing_!" she gasped, "Please don't send me home on my own! I couldn't bear it!"

Kaiba sighed and shook his head.

"You people really don't get me, do you? I do actually have honour – you think I'd let a girl walk home on her own down dark alleyways to whatever hellhole you live in?" he pouted, turning away from her and Serenity wished that she'd thought more carefully about what Kaiba may actually have been like. From Joey's stories, the evidence went against him.

"I-I never thought about it before," she admitted and he sighed and stood, his lean frame facing away from her. His eyes lingered on the magnificent coat of arms before he turned to face Serenity, his face carefully blank.

"Let's take you home. I'll get the chauffeur to deliver you," he told her carelessly, pretending he hadn't heard her last comment and strode out of the room, leaving Serenity alone to her thoughts.

'_He almost acted as if he was hurt that none of us thought about what he was like. Well, as far as we were concerned, how he acted _was_ what he was like. Tonight… now I'm not so sure,'_ Serenity thought with intrigue.

'_The great Seto Kaiba not the complete cold-hearted bastard many of us took him for? Well, I suppose Mokuba is proof there's some kind of ability to love, otherwise Kaiba wouldn't have bothered about looking after his brother…'_ Serenity stopped herself and stood; glad that at least she should only have to venture into the dark briefly to get in and out of the car. She became conscious that she hadn't put her shoes on and speedily proceeded to slip them onto her feet before Kaiba noticed.

Serenity picked up her neatly folded jacket off the arm of the nearest sofa to the door and went to leave, but was stopped by Kaiba's return.

"You'll never find it by yourself. I'll take you," he said casually and walked off down the right corridor, his expensive polished black shoes clicking slightly on the immaculate floorboards. Serenity hurried after him, her soft soled shoes barely making a sound. Kaiba carried on even after disappearing out of Serenity's sight for a moment and she began to run, the fear of being left alone and potentially at the mercy of the apparition in the window and crashed into his half turned body. He had waited for her. Her hands fastened onto his left arm and she glanced behind her to see nobody had been there.

"As you can see there's nothing," he said in a deadpan tone and Serenity felt like crying again. Why couldn't she keep it together? Kaiba went to pull his arm away from her hands, but she reflexively gripped it tighter and stared pleadingly into his blank navy eyes.

Her eyes wouldn't leave his as fear overrode her again, constricting her breathing. What if it came for her? Kaiba could see the beseeching wide stare and he gave in and hooked his arm so it was linked with hers.

"Come on or the chauffeur will get annoyed," he said a little softer and they walked together down the corridors until they materialised out of the corridor into the spacious hall. The main double doors loomed and Kaiba opened one up and saw that the chauffeur was patiently waiting outside his limo, head tipped down with his chauffeur's hat shading his face from both sight and the cool breeze.

Kaiba was immediately on guard as he had never known his chauffeur to wait outside the limo, and the fact he was obscuring his face didn't help matters. Serenity looked at Kaiba's scrutinising expression of the chauffeur scuffing his shoe against the drive and immediately began to be on alert.

"Show your face, if you're indeed Lanoka," Kaiba commanded levelly and the chauffeur remained deathly still, halting his scuffing and making Serenity gasp as it dawned who the person was.

"Inside. Now," said Kaiba sternly and the two spun around and threw themselves over the threshold, Kaiba slamming the door in the charging chauffeur's face.

Kaiba set the bolts in the door before relaxing slightly, only to tense again when he saw Serenity kneeling on the floor with her back to him sobbing. Her face was buried hands and her body shook from the force of her crying.

"Serenity…" Kaiba said helplessly and made his way over to her. He crouched next to her and gently placed a hand on her shoulder, but she ignored him and refused to remove her hands from her face when he reached up a hand to one of hers and gave it a slight pull. She recoiled away and shook her head, slowly beginning to calm herself down.

Serenity tried to make the blush of her face go down. She found it terribly embarrassing that she burst into tears twice in one night in front of this multi-million dollar man who spent little to none of his time near crying women. He was probably pretty tired of it by now.

But the fear inside her was real. The man was real – not a phantom, but a flesh and blood person out to get her, she was sure of it. After her sobs quietened, questions were raised in her mind.

"How am I going to get home with _him_ out there?" she fretted, finally removing her hands from her face and resting them on her folded knees as Kaiba watched her apprehensively.

"You can't. It's not safe. You'll have to stay here while I get security to sort this out," he told her with a pitying softness to his eyes that made her feel a little better, but disappeared when she went over what he said.

"You're not going to leave me here on my own?" she asked anxiously as thoughts of getting lost in the mansion occurred and Kaiba shook his head and showed her his phone.

"I'll call them as we hide out. The kitchen will do for now – I need to check Mokuba's okay anyway," he replied and stood, offering an arm to help her up.

"Thank you," she answered shyly and Kaiba gave a careless nod and walked off, swiftly followed by her.

Mokuba had become a priority. Kaiba hoped that his brother had stayed in and not gone out partying or something similar. Kaiba couldn't stand the thought of going to a nightclub, but his brother loved them now and began the inevitable slide of his grades that irked Kaiba to no end.

He brushed these thoughts aside and speed dialled security to hear the familiar voice of Marko.

"_Sir?_" his gravelled voice answered and Kaiba felt a vestige of relief.

"Marko, I need you to send a team of guards to the front door to look for Lanoka the chauffeur. The man who you caught trespassing attempted to impersonate him and… I don't know, Marko," Kaiba expelled air heavily, tiredly rubbing his face and Serenity followed him, nervously taking fleeting looks about her as they rounded a corner and approached the kitchen door, complete with porthole.

"_I shall do so immediately, sir. I will keep you updated,"_ Marko replied unemotionally and Kaiba snapped his phone shut. He placed it back into his pocket and pushed the kitchen door open, peering in to check for Mokuba.

"Damn. He's not here," Kaiba muttered and entered and motioned for Serenity to sit on one of the breakfast bar stools. She pulled herself up into the high chairs being only just over five feet tall and looked about with interest.

It had several long windows up near the ceiling so you could gain light, but couldn't see out of them they were so high. The breakfast bar stretched across half of the middle of the room and was solid wood along with the kitchen worktop which stretched in an L shape around the edge of the wall, equipped with all the kitchen supplies you could ever want. They sat there shining as if they were barely used and Kaiba noticed her eyeing the place curiously.

"Had enough?" he snapped and Serenity jumped, her eyes widened fearfully, making Kaiba feel bad after the ordeal she had been put through tonight.

"Forget it, this hasn't been the best day," he skirted around an apology and ran a hand through his hair.

"Where's Mokuba?" he said half to himself and Serenity didn't dare speak for fear of him snapping at her again or perhaps even chucking her out of the mansion at the risk of getting attacked by that man.

Kaiba pinched the bridge of his nose as he took a deep breath and got his phone out again, dialling Mokuba's number.

'_Come on…'_ Kaiba urged for Mokuba to pick up and to his relief he heard a click on the other end and Mokuba clearing his throat.

"_Yeah?"_ the boy curtly answered and a small smile flitted across Kaiba's mouth, which Serenity couldn't help but see and become intrigued by Kaiba again, despite his mean streak that she seemed to keep getting herself caught in.

"Mokuba, where are you?"

"_In my room, Seto. Where else did you think I'd be?"_ Mokuba replied in a disgruntled tone and Kaiba briefly rolled his eyes.

"It's just there was a breach of security and a man tried to attack Serenity as she left, so a lockdown is on tonight. No leaving this mansion until I give the all clear," Kaiba told his brother firmly and Mokuba's voice had a tone of piqued interest.

"_Serenity? As in Wheeler? What's she doing here - I thought you hated her family?"_

"Well, I… no I don't, just that dog… Mokuba, just get down here to the kitchen!" Kaiba said finally and Mokuba became questioning once more.

"_You sent Serenity home during a security breach? That's harsh, man, even for Joey's sister. She was really nice whenever I spoke to her,"_ Mokuba reprimanded and Kaiba looked briefly affronted before he started tapping his foot with impatience.

"I did not send her home. Serenity's staying over tonight," Kaiba told Mokuba shortly and the boy gave an excited laugh.

"_So you finally got a girl, huh?"_ he chuckled and Kaiba growled, a vein in his head beginning to throb worryingly.

"No, she's staying… somewhere else," he replied between gritted teeth, causing Serenity to watch him intently. Her look made Kaiba feel like the room was enclosing on him and turned away from her before he went red.

"_Can't say you wouldn't, huh? Forbidden love and all that?"_ Mokuba probed and Kaiba shifted irritably, not wishing to deal with Mokuba's investigating with Serenity nearby.

"Mokuba, not now," he growled and Mokuba laughed.

"_You're embarrassed, aren't you?"_ Mokuba teased and Kaiba had had enough.

"Just get to the kitchen," he barked tetchily and closed his phone with a click, then placed it on the kitchen worktop. He hesitated for a moment, and then shoved it back into his pocket. Kaiba could rarely stand to lose track of his phone for more than five minutes. It was his lifeline to the entire world at times. Serenity couldn't help but watch Kaiba's actions with interest, but quickly pretended to be fascinated with her fingernails when he finally turned his gaze upon her.

"He should be coming," Kaiba said with a slightly reddened face in the heat of Mokuba's questions. The boy was never afraid to ask anything, especially to his dear brother and this sometimes made Kaiba incredibly uncomfortable. The fact the subject of the questions had been looking on with interest hadn't particularly helped.

Serenity nodded and rested her head on her folded up arms that lay on the breakfast bar, waiting to be reunited with Mokuba, her lost little friend. She had nearly forgotten he was pretty much grown up until he walked in, nearly the same height as his brother with lanky arms and legs typical of a teenager.

"Hey Serenity," he grinned cheerfully accompanied by a small wave and Serenity got off the chair and gave him a warm hug.

"Mokuba! You're so… tall and grown up," she replied in amazement and let him go to have a look at him. He still had an element of boyish innocence, but the cheeky smirk he was giving her now made her realise how old he had got.

"You don't look bad yourself, Serenity. Not bad at all," he raised his eyebrows craftily and Serenity's mouth popped open at his teasing playboy attitude.

Kaiba got pretty flustered at his brother's embarrassing actions at that point and stepped up to Mokuba with a look of poison.

"Lay off, Mokuba," he warned and Mokuba broke out into a genuine smile.

"I was only pretending. You're so easy Seto – I always picked you to be the one to end up the crazy recluse," Mokuba hinted enigmatically and proceeded to ignore the two in favour of grabbing a bottle of beer out of the enormous fridge.

Kaiba pulled a face of annoyance at his brother before taking a seat at the breakfast bar, irritably motioning for Serenity to sit back down, which she did. Kaiba realised he hadn't really asked her if she was okay and mentally smacked himself in the head. Etiquette generally wasn't required when you're on your own.

"Uh, you hungry or thirsty?" he ventured and Serenity shrugged and gave a small nod.

"I wouldn't mind a glass of water," she requested quietly and Kaiba frowned with confusion.

"Just water?" he asked and she nodded.

"I don't want to be a bother," she explained and Kaiba rolled his eyes.

"You can have anything you want, Serenity. It's not as if we're really short of anything here," he replied with a raised eyebrow and Serenity felt like curling up into a ball. Meanwhile, Mokuba had sat himself next to Serenity and gave her a pat on the back.

"C'mon, Serenity! Live a little!" he cheered her on and Serenity licked her lips nervously.

"Well… if you have some hot chocolate, I wouldn't mind, uh, some of that," she said clumsily and Kaiba nodded.

"Sure – we got some around here somewhere, don't we Mokuba?" he hinted at Mokuba for assistance, but the teenager was too busy drinking from his bottle, leaving Kaiba to hunt through the cupboards for the cocoa powder. After five minutes of no luck, he triumphantly presented the jar with a flourish to find Serenity asleep, leaning innocently against Mokuba's shoulder.

"You'd be surprised how much fear can drain you," Mokuba commented knowledgably, "I mean, I got pretty tired a lot when you disappeared because I'd been kidnapped and I was constantly afraid. It takes it out of you."

Kaiba grunted, not caring to dwell on the past unless it was unavoidable and again rubbed his face tiredly, carefully putting the jar of cocoa down on the worktop so he didn't wake Serenity up. Mokuba noted this with a raised eyebrow and Kaiba shook his head before approaching the two.

"What are you going to do?" Mokuba whispered as he watched Serenity sleep soundly on his shoulder, the only noise coming from her was soft breathing.

Kaiba reached out to Serenity and gently eased her away from Mokuba's shoulder, her head tipping slowly onto his right arm. Mokuba watched the sleeping girl with fascination and Kaiba felt like blocking his view with an arm, but decided against it as he'd probably drop Serenity in the process. Instead he extended his left arm and picked her up under the knees so she dangled in his arms.

"She's surprisingly light," Kaiba shrugged and broke Mokuba's spell of staring.

"Where are you gonna put her?" Mokuba asked with interest and Kaiba frowned.

"Why do you care? Got a crush or something?" Kaiba queried, intrigued and slightly… something Kaiba wouldn't even acknowledge at Mokuba's behaviour. Kaiba realised he had unconsciously pulled Serenity's sleeping form closer to his body and suddenly relaxed, making Mokuba's eyes narrow.

"She's a nice girl and there's not that much of an age difference. I quite like her myself," Mokuba grinned wickedly and Kaiba frowned.

"Should you be so forward with her, Mokuba?" Kaiba felt himself step back and Mokuba stifled a laugh behind a hand to prevent Serenity from stirring.

"I knew you didn't hate her, big brother," he chuckled and Kaiba's face became unsettled.

"Drop it," was all he replied and with that, he swept around and left the room, awkwardly pushing the kitchen's swing door open with his arched back in order to stop Serenity getting a crack on the head.

Safely through the door, Kaiba wandered along the familiar corridors each with their set of particular paintings and now had to face the idea that the man may have got past security and even into the house. That chilled him, not that he'd admit to that either, and Kaiba tried to shake off the paranoia by keeping his eyes straight ahead and occupying his mind with ideas for the project and what needed to be done at work, which drifted lazily across his mind.

He reached the hall and was relieved to see the door was still securely bolted shut and made his way upstairs. He glanced at Serenity to see she was still asleep, her hair partly obscuring her face. Her hands hung limply in his arms and swung along with his steps. Kaiba eventually made it up the two flights to his bedroom's floor and a new problem presented itself in his mind – where does she sleep?

With a sigh, he entered his room and placed her gently on his bed before withdrawing from her to the other side of the room.

He took out his phone for what felt like the millionth time that night and hoped he would finally receive some good news. He was really angry and stressed that someone had managed to gain access to the grounds and the fact this happened while a relative stranger was present made it even more painful. News had better be good, or jobs were about to be abolished within the hour. Kaiba was no longer in the mood for emotions, pity or forgiveness, only results.

"_Marko here, sir."_

"I want a situation report," Kaiba demanded and he could hear a grinding noise in Marko's throat as he prepared to give the report.

"_We found Lanoka. He was tied up in the garage, knocked out and gagged. The assailant had remained undetected, but we are enacting a cycle of ground sweeps until the daylight where there will be no cover. For now, sir, I would advise no-one to leave the mansion until the morning,"_ Marko explained and Kaiba gave a tired sigh.

"Very well, Marko. Call me when if anything new comes up," Kaiba replied and ended the call, placing it on his massive desk, but once more changing his mind and placing it back into a pocket.

He returned to where Serenity lay and found he hadn't the heart to move her. She had already curled up onto her side, her hands unconsciously grasping the thick rich navy blue covers to her. He watched this girl take over his bed for a minute with a entranced fascination, but blinking, he hurriedly tugged the covers properly over her. Undoing a few shirt buttons, he moved to his couch parked in a dark corner of his room and took his shoes off, neatly lined them up together next to the couch and tried to get comfortable.

'_I get to spend the night on a nice cramped futon,'_ Kaiba thought innocuously and his mood suddenly turned for the worse as his situation finally sunk in.

"Great," he muttered darkly and turned onto his side, forcing himself to get some rest ready for the questions tomorrow could raise.

A/N: Well, hello there! I have updated, as you can see! This chapter takes a big jump length wise – I get into the swing of things and the length keeps going up. The only problem I have with this chapter is the paranoia that Serenity is a little too Mary Sue-ish than my liking, but I couldn't see too many other ways to play it. Also sorry if you don't like long chapters, but five thou aren't too bad? You should see the next one! Well, I made some changes to some of the previous chapters, but nothing you should bother yourself to re-read because they're only to correct grammatical mistakes. It was my mistake to post without my beta, Mark, going through it. My own checking skills are atrocious! Leave this out for a bit before putting up chapter five, but I'm starting to fall behind schedule – I should be writing more chapter seven, but things keep distracting me! But never fear, this shall be fought! Also, thank you for the reviews - I really appreciate it!


	5. A Few Discoveries

**Chapter Five: A Few Discoveries**

Serenity awoke to bright sunlight streaming through her closed eyelids and she took the time to relax for a minute before the events of last night hit her wide awake.

She abruptly sat up, her eyes flicking open to see she was in a strange, yet nicely comfortable, navy blue bed and then to the large uncovered windows that were allowing the light to nearly blind her, it was such… fresh morning light, the kind that could be unhealthy for the non-morning people.

This worried her quite a bit and she looked around the unfamiliar surroundings to spot one lone familiar figure curled up incredibly inelegantly on a slim black couch to match the rather conservative décor.

She blinked a few times and silently slid out of the large bed, careful not to disturb the slumbering figure. Last thing she remembered was being in the kitchen, so…

Serenity looked to the figure on the couch and noticed a tuft of brown hair that sparked her memory. In fact, she began to realise, those long legs and bony hands were pretty recognisable too…

Cautiously, she approached the couch to find Kaiba asleep with a peaceful expression on his face. Serenity was surprised by Kaiba's almost angelic look. With a private smile she watched him for a minute before moving to his desk and finding a clock that alarmingly told her they had an hour before they needed to be at college handing in last week's set assignment.

In a panic she dashed across the room and violently shook Kaiba awake, almost rocking him off the couch altogether. He flailed his arms to fend her off as he grumpily sat up.

"Stop it!" he commanded and she fell back to stand a little distance away from him while he got his bearings. He grumbled to himself vaguely for a moment – from what Serenity could gather about sleeping on the couch – and stood, cracking his neck and stretching his long arms.

He couldn't help but yawn extravagantly before finally looking at Serenity, who was almost hopping from one foot to another in distress.

"What?" he asked irritably as she stared at him. She quickly stopped fidgeting and became serious, her wide eyes still filled with anxiety.

"Nothing, it's just that we have to give in Mr. Bamako's assignment by nine o'clock and its eight now," she explained and Kaiba nearly hit the roof at the information.

"What?!" he exclaimed and dug his phone out to see it was indeed eight. His face swiftly began to darken, the morning getting worse and worse in his navy blue eyes.

"Damn!" he growled and looked to Serenity again, with icy eyes and furrowed brows that directly glared into Serenity's partially panicked, mostly innocent returned look.

"You can go now," he frostily told her and her eyebrows shot up with disbelief at his candour. She looked about the room, as if she was looking for someone to agree with her. Obviously, there was no-one to be found and she returned her gaze to Kaiba's worn and distinctly grumpy expression.

"How am I supposed to get home, washed, dressed and to college in an hour?!" she replied angrily and Kaiba shrugged noncommittally, relishing the dismay on her pale face.

"You'll find a way," he said with a spiteful smirk before firmly taking her shoulders and guiding her out of his room.

"Hey!" she objected loudly as he firmly shut the door on her. She turned and banged on it, then tried the handle to find it locked.

"Hey!" she tried again, but Kaiba had already disappeared into the bathroom, and out of the hearing of her remonstration. It seemed that his mood was once more the familiar icy attitude Serenity was used to the past five years and any memory of the events of last night carefully discarded by the man.

With a brief pout, Serenity turned around to find she was in an unfamiliar location and new problems such as how to escape began to pose themselves. Tentatively she ventured down the corridor and found the stairs. She decided it was best to try and get out of there as quickly as possible, if only to get home and get her ten page masterpiece of work in time to college. No way would she make it on time, but she was going to do the best she could – it was all she _could_ do.

'_Damn Kaiba!'_ she mentally cursed, as she reached the bottom of the stairs opposite the front door and a small smile crossed her face. At least she could escape from the damn place if Kaiba was going to be like _that_.

"Thank God," she sighed and reached for the door handle.

"You going somewhere, Serenity?" a voice enquired and she spun around to find Mokuba neatly dressed for school with a piece of clumsily buttered toast dangling from a hand.

"Mokuba! Your brother is a mean man, you know that?!" Serenity replied, exasperated by the entire five minutes she'd been awake for that morning, and Mokuba sighed, visibly feeling sorry for Serenity.

"Seto isn't much of a morning person, I'm afraid," he languorously explained, offhandedly taking a bite from the toast and Serenity pouted.

"He chucked me out, knowing I have less than an hour to get home and get my assignment in to our Business teacher!" she poured out her story and a grin spread across his face.

Serenity watched as Mokuba rummaged in his pocket to produce a key chain, complete with flashy Kaiba Corp metal logo, where an expensive car key dangled.

"Now there I can help you," Mokuba told her, his grin widening to Serenity's transfixed horror…

>

"Ahh! Right, right!!!" Serenity yelled from the passenger seat as they careered around a narrow corner in Mokuba's brand new crimson Ferrari.

"Yeah, yeah – I can hear you perfectly fine, Serenity," Mokuba commented as he spun the wheel around in his hands. The Ferrari was a brand new toy of Mokuba's now he was old enough to drive. He wasn't _good_ at it, but he owned the car and the police weren't inclined to stop a multi-millionaire over a little bit of dangerous driving. The personalised plates never failed to signal who to leave alone when that magic word 'KA1BA' sped past.

Serenity briefly squeezed her eyes shut and gripped her seatbelt as they swerved around the corner and into Serenity's street, her knuckles going bone white from the constantly careening vehicle.

"Okay, it's not far now… this tower block here," she pointed and Mokuba nodded and sent the car into a stuntman style spin to land the car next to the kerb with a screech from the tyres. Serenity took in a shaky breath and looked to Mokuba, who couldn't hide his Cheshire grin.

"I've always wanted to try that," he told her breathlessly and Serenity burst into I'm-still-alive laughter of relief, then threw her arms around Mokuba's neck.

"Thank you – look it's only eight-fifteen!" she beamed as she caught sight of the car's clock and got out of the Ferrari, leaving Mokuba in a daze.

"Will you wait for me?" she turned back and asked, her brown eyes enchantingly innocent. Mokuba smiled warmly and readily nodded.

"Of course, Serenity. I've still got time to get to school," he reassured her and she nodded and ran up into the dilapidated foyer and up the stairs of the tower block, managing to yank her key out as she sprung up the stairs.

Eventually she reached her and Joey's flat and the question of Joey arose. He didn't have classes today – it was Tuesday – and he could be lurking in the house, ready to strike. Serenity hadn't banked on being around the Kaiba's mansion all night and this would raise quite a few questions from Joey who, like Mokuba, wasn't afraid to press his sibling for any kind of information, no matter how personal he sometimes got.

She took in a deep breath and opened the door in a rush.

Empty.

Serenity began to take in a sigh of relief when Joey came out of the bathroom, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, but stopped when he noticed her.

"Hey! Where have you been all night?" his voice stridently cut across the pall of silence and Serenity shrugged, feeling guilty. She would have called him last night. Really. If she knew he wouldn't have gone into some kind of frenzy, which Serenity was certain would have happened.

"There was a problem with security last night and I had to stay over. It was very scary," she enlightened him, putting emphasis on the scariness of the situation, but Joey ignored it.

"You stayed there _all night_?! What are you, crazy?!" he strode up to her, his brown eyes that matched hers almost exactly filled with pain, more than anger.

"I had to – this guy was after me or something!" she told him exasperatedly, but Joey still didn't appear to care, clear cut emotion displayed on his face.

"Well that just shows what hanging around with Kaiba'll do to you," he barked as his emotions got the better of him and Serenity felt like she was in a losing battle.

"Look, I can't deal with this right now. I've got Mokuba waiting outside for me," she hurriedly pushed past Joey, but a stricken expression passed across his face and he turned and trounced after her as she threaded her way through Joey's junk and into her room.

"You're getting rides from Mokuba?!" he demanded as he entered her room and Serenity ignored him, instead focusing her attention on finding her assignment on her desk. It was top of the pile and within a moment safely in her hands.

"Joey, please," she paused in her rush to get to college to get him to understand, "I have to do this first, come back home and take a shower. I couldn't do this to my deadline without Mokuba. And anyway, you've always liked Mokuba!" she retorted passionately and Joey reeled back at her tirade.

"I… just go, then," Joey lowered his head, no comeback coming to hand. Sometimes he really wished he could articulate how he felt better, because Joey desperately felt the need to tell Serenity his need for her to get the hell away from Kaiba, but he remained quiet.

"Thank you, my favourite big brother," she gave him a quick hug, that she sadly noted wasn't returned, before dashing out of the flats and back to Mokuba, who was vaguely listening to the radio. Occasionally he hummed a strand of tune, but stopped when he became aware of Serenity's approach.

"You took your time," he lazily replied, stretching luxuriously like a cat.

Serenity couldn't hide a smile as she watched Mokuba, who noticed and straightened in his seat.

"Sorry, I'm not much of a morning person either. But at least I don't gripe about it," he grinned and put his belt on before starting up the Ferrari and revving the engine with a maniacal laugh.

"To the college!" he crowed and they sped off, Serenity with a smile plastered on her face. Something inside her told her she could get used to this.

>

Mokuba had to leave her on her own at the college before his teachers began looking for him, but gave her a suggestive blown kiss followed by a wicked grin before zooming off. People watched the spectacle with interest and a pink blush began to creep up her face at the gesture, so she tried to hide it by glancing down at her watch so her hair draped across her face, but it only made her look odd to the passers-by.

"Five minutes?!" she yelped, all other thoughts overridden by this terrible new fact, and charged across the grounds, through the double doors and along the main corridor towards the stairs down to Mr. Bamako's class.

She was right on time when she burst into 4B and stuck out her hand gripping her work to find a small group of Business students just handing their work in.

Serenity sighed with relief as she placed her work with the pile of others and couldn't help noticing one labelled _Seto Kaiba_ in his painfully small and neat handwriting noted in the top right hand corner of a sheath of papers.

'_He must have written an entire thesis,'_ she remarked to herself as he appeared to have written thirty or more pages. Kaiba must have given Mr. Bamako a headache every few weeks an assignment was due in.

Just as she turned to go, Mr. Bamako called her back and she automatically faced him at his call.

"Yes, Mr. Bamako?" she enquired and Mr. Bamako had an expression of concern on his face, his wild grey eyebrows creased with concern.

"I was wondering how you and Mr. Kaiba were getting along on the little project I assigned you two," he said and a passing expression of annoyance sped across Serenity's face.

'_You call six months little?!'_ she silently shouted at him and her face became taut in a fixed bright outward appearance, in some attempt to retain her innocent good girl and prevent herself from smacking some sense into the man.

"Not far right now – a few disputes over the project as a whole, you could say. But that's sorted now and I'm hoping that we will finish ahead of schedule," she told him reassuringly and Serenity witnessed Mr. Bamako visibly relax.

'_Desperately praying, more like it,'_ her mind added and she secretly chuckled at that one, while Mr. Bamako clearly relaxed at the information she had conveyed.

"Good, good! I was getting a bit worried as I saw Mr. Kaiba not five minutes ago and he was rather reluctant to talk at all," Mr. Bamako told her and a small smile materialised on Serenity's face.

"I heard he wasn't much of a morning person," she said conversationally and left with a small wave, carefully shutting the door behind her.

To her surprise, when she turned she saw Kaiba standing there as if he was waiting for her, his usual strands of hair that hung between his eyes looking a little flyaway. Serenity watched him expectantly and he scowled, folding his arms.

"We're going on a little excursion for our Business project," he told her and began to walk, but turned on his heel when he noticed she wasn't following.

"Why aren't you following?" he asked her with an air of annoyance and Serenity crossed her arms with a frown, biting her lip so she didn't pout.

"You can't just order me around like that," she explained to him to try and somehow make him understand, but Kaiba merely snorted ignorantly and folded his arms impetuously.

"Fine. You can stay here and I'll go by myself," he said carelessly and started walking again. The thought of him taking over the reins of the project once more was too much for Serenity to bear and she hurried after him.

"Wait, wait!" she shouted and he ground to a halt. She noticed he was dressed in all navy and white like some kind of uniform – navy jeans and a white shirt, topped off with a long material navy jacket reminiscent of the early Pegasus days, making Serenity wonder if he ever wore anything more casual.

"Yes?" an eyebrow rose as he turned to hear her answer.

"I'll come with you, but first I need a shower and a change of clothes!" she blurted and Kaiba eyed her with a look of disdain.

"You didn't have time to _wash_?" he asked with a wrinkled nose and Serenity saw red, both in anger and the fact her face rose in temperature by a thousand degrees from sheer embarrassment. With a strangled cry she stormed up to him and began to beat his chest with all her might.

"If it wasn't for _you_ chucking me out, then I would have been ready!!! But no, _you_ decided to kick me out because _you're_ not a morning person!!!" she ranted, stepping back as Kaiba's face darkened with rage, but he couldn't seem to get any words out.

A small victorious smile crossed Serenity's lips as she realised he didn't have a comeback. She could barely suppress the giggle that was begging to escape, but managed to hold on and link her hands behind her back and step towards him, a sickly sweet smile fixed upon her lips.

"Prepared to say sorry?" she asked him sweetly and Serenity swore she could see a slight tick next to his eye from the mental conflict Kaiba seemed to be battling internally.

After a minute of this frozen situation of Serenity waiting for him to either relax or explode, Kaiba finally decided to relax and he expelled a deep breath.

"I'll drive you to wherever you live and you can get washed and dressed. Then we go to Kaiba Land," he eventually said with a calm and collected expression that was nearly disinterested as he failed to meet Serenity's eyes, instead preferring the corridor wall adorned with pieces of old business coursework.

Serenity felt the need to push the envelope and ask again for an apology, but decided against it as Kaiba looked really odd, like he was still on the verge of having a breakdown over the terrible choice of killing her or apologising.

They began to walk and finally interest took over Serenity's need for a show of regret.

"Kaiba Land?" she frowned with confusion, "What on earth would we learn there?"

Kaiba shook his head as if she was an idiot as they exited the college and crossed the grounds to the car park.

"Don't you read the -" he began, but after a mental tussle, appeared to give up. Instead he carried on walking into the car park to a flashy dark metallic green Jaguar.

"Every first Tuesday in October I allow a large group of small businesses in the area pool their money together and rent out Kaiba Land for the day to set up stalls to try and interest various people in their products. I thought we'd check it out to see if there was anything there we could base our project around," Kaiba elaborated and Serenity's face remained quite blank as he opened the doors to the green Jaguar with a flick of a button on his car key.

"Oh. That should be good," her heart sank at the thought of having to walk around in public with Kaiba and climbed slightly reluctantly into his car, while he slipped into the driver's seat with poise before waiting for Serenity to close her door.

She nervously got into the car, not used to just hopping into vehicles with relative strangers and pulled the door closed. Kaiba carefully pulled out of the car park, while Serenity quickly told him where to go to reach her apartment, and she discovered Kaiba to be a far safer driver than his brother, though this wasn't a largely surprising finding as Serenity believed there to be few more dangerous drivers than Mokuba. He silently did what he was instructed and they drove in what Serenity felt was an uncomfortable silence that hung in the air like a pall.

Fifteen minutes of careful driving later and Kaiba pulled up at the tower block and eyed the building with clear distaste. Serenity caught the expression and felt a swell of anger make its way to her mouth.

"You don't have to put on such an unimpressed expression. You don't have to live there," she snapped and got out of the car. He stayed in the car and flipped on the radio as he rolled his eyes and Serenity childishly stuck out her tongue before flouncing up the stairs to the apartment. She speedily took a shower and threw on some freshly washed and ironed clothes – a green bootlace strapped top and her brand new pair of jeans, freshly bought the previous weekend. She quickly popped the essentials into a tiny knapsack and swung it onto one shoulder and left the apartment once more. A brief thought towards the location of Joey arose and Serenity paused before shutting the door.

"Joey?" she called and waited for a reply, but none came.

'_Oh. I wonder where he went?'_ she wondered and with an unconcerned shrug she securely shut the door and returned to the Jaguar, where Kaiba sat looking incredibly bored. He switched the radio off when he saw her and she got into the car, her thoughts turning to the ride she had caught that morning.

'_Mokuba's driving was definitely scarier in terms of safety, but I feel so on edge with Kaiba, when with Mokuba it was like being with an old friend…'_ Serenity silently commented as Kaiba drove on to Kaiba Land and she almost laughed at his wary driving as he slowed for a boy running across the street. She had imagined before she had really spoken to Kaiba, and only had information Joey had told her about him, not to be patient for anyone, but here he was being the most painfully patient driver in the world.

'_The most deathly silent and conservative one too,'_ she added and that thought set off a small line of private thoughts to herself.

In fact he was pretty conservative with his millions of dollars, Serenity began to realise as they headed over to Kaiba Land.

'_No servants to be seen, one chauffeur… Kaiba is a total recluse! Or incredibly thrifty. I bet this is his only car, if I'm reading him right…"_ Serenity thought to herself with a concealed smile, half hidden by her hand that reached up to cover her mouth without her even knowing until it was touching her lips. She quickly withdrew it before Kaiba noticed and was about to ask as unobtrusively as possible if this indeed was his only car, when Kaiba shifted in his seat as they neatly turned a corner as if he was going to say something to her and the plan was forgotten.

"Oh, and by the way," Kaiba briefly glanced at Serenity as he drove, "the man on the mansion grounds last night was ID-ed as that white haired kid who hung around with you guys – Bakura."

Serenity sat in utter shock as Kaiba's words sunk in.

"Bakura?! No – no he wouldn't do that!" she exclaimed in alarm and Kaiba shrugged dispassionately.

"Cameras caught him stalking around, so it was sent off by security to the police and they ID-ed him. There's nothing to contend," Kaiba replied and Serenity was left in silence to ponder this new piece of information.

"How can you just come out with things like this?! Like it doesn't even matter!" Serenity had to say before she combusted. She felt like she _had_ to comment on his strange mannerisms, partly because she needed to find out why he behaved this way.

Kaiba took to his new favourite tactic when dealing with Serenity – he ignored her and continued driving on, smoothly passing the wheel through his hands around the corner into the immense car park of Kaiba Land.

"You can't keep blocking me out _and_ take me places for the project as you please. Either talk to me, or hand over the project, Kaiba," Serenity told him deadly seriously and Kaiba sighed as they went up a couple of narrow ramps and parked in his own personal car park area. It was a private area upstairs next to his own entrance only attainable by a key card.

He turned the Jaguar off and turned to face Serenity, making her suddenly feel terribly alone and unprotected, surrounded completely in Kaiba – his car, car park and monstrous arena, not to mention the immediacy of Kaiba himself.

"Serenity…" Kaiba paused to try and articulate his words and settled his chilly cobalt eyes on Serenity's large innocent brown ones, "I will not allow you to take over the project as I have an obligation to fulfil my duty to my business class and Mr. Bamako's instructions. A Kaiba doesn't back down," Kaiba told her severely with a growled ferocity at his last sentence and Serenity unconsciously shrank back into the expensive leather seat as fear flooded her body.

Kaiba saw her reaction and became conscious of his harsh behaviour. Unsure of what to do, he got out of the car and after a moment Serenity followed, the pressing fear slowly draining away as Kaiba backed down, leaving her feeling like she didn't want to go around this business fair at all.

They remained motionless for a moment, Kaiba inspecting his shoes while Serenity stood awkwardly, wondering if running away would be so bad and planning out in her mind to visit Yugi about Bakura and his completely bewildering behaviour. She couldn't get her head around why such a gentle boy would be so peculiar and threatening, or why Bakura came after her of all the people he could choose.

"Let's go," Kaiba said, lifting his head and locking the car with a casual button press on his key. Serenity, jolted from her wavering thoughts, nodded and trailed behind Kaiba as he strode to the unassuming side door and extracted a card key from his pocket.

He easily gained access and held the door open for Serenity to step through. She hurried past him, avoiding his eyes and Kaiba shut the door behind them, it smoothly clicked shut as Serenity glumly predicted. This mood was soon to be forgotten as she brushed some strands of her light brown hair away from her face to see what Kaiba Land was like.

Inside was bright with fluorescent light that hurt Serenity's eyes and Kaiba smiled, finally feeling a vestige of comfort. Serenity put him on edge and Kaiba didn't like it at all. Being in the presence of a large chunk of his corporate empire instilled some confidence that Kaiba generally lacked when it came to dealing with Serenity - well, truthfully at least. It was so easy to be Seto Kaiba the Corporation Owner than Seto Kaiba who Loves his Brother. Being harsh and cold meant you didn't have to open up and could force people away. It had worked surprisingly nicely for him over the years.

When Serenity's eyes adjusted to the bright lights, she looked around with a mix of awe and delight at the massive complex that was all around. It looked even bigger on the inside than it had looked outside, below had large panels of glass that flooded light into the place. Serenity moved forward to the narrow open walkways they were on that were against the exterior wall of Kaiba Land that looked down over a railing to the swarm of little stalls that lined all around the neat carpeting. The ceiling was massive with no skylights, so from up where Serenity was, the only proper lighting came from the strip lights she didn't particularly like. She couldn't help but gawp at the seething mass of people milling about and inspecting the innumerable stalls below, the pulse of life uplifting her melancholy. She thought she could smell bagels wafting up from one of the stalls and suddenly realised that she hadn't eaten anything, making her stomach give a grumble in protest. Somehow, she didn't think Kaiba would care and put the thought of food aside.

"We haven't got all day to stare. They stop for lunch at midday and I'm not willing to wait for the lazy wretches to return to work," Kaiba said almost sullenly, but it couldn't dampen Serenity's now cheery spirits. She swung around to look at him and gave him a small friendly push, letting go of his moment of anger he'd displayed toward her.

"Come on – lighten up! I mean, you _created_ this place and it's fantastic!" she said with a cheerful smile, which was infectious. Kaiba couldn't help for a small smile to flit across his face for an instant and his dark mood lift slightly after his uptight speech from the car. Kaiba hadn't liked the way he'd behaved there; he saw the rather fearful look of being trapped cross Serenity's face when he had been so harsh and it had made him feel… like she was him when he was younger and he was Gozaburo and Kaiba was not happy with that thought at all. One thing he had promised himself when he'd made his sacrifice for Mokuba was never to turn into Gozaburo and Serenity reminded him of when he was a child with her sometimes carefree attitude and moods that changed like the wind. Kaiba noticed that even his voice had certain tones that rang familiar with the old man that Kaiba now hated, but felt so horribly indebted to. He would never escape Gozaburo's clutches, not even after the old man was buried six feet under.

It sent a mental shiver of disgust within Kaiba's mind and he tried to brighten up in any attempt not to even act slightly like his step father.

"Okay, let's go down," he said with a lighter tone in his voice, walking towards the far off lifts, and Serenity felt like she'd managed to somehow affect him in some way with her words, though not in the way she could have ever expected. Kaiba's past remained firmly lodged deep inside his head, his introverted personality ensuring that it never leaked out into the world. If that happened, Kaiba knew that he'd have to face up to the fact that the life he had led when he was younger was real. And if that happened…

'_I'd probably lose it,'_ Kaiba thought bleakly, but remained with his slightly cheered expression that was fixed on his face like a stretched Halloween mask. Serenity didn't notice this as she was slightly behind him as he strolled along the corridor to the lift up ahead.

As he reached the lifts, Kaiba relaxed his tight face, the muscles aching from the effort to look happy and returned to a rather neutral expression that gave nothing away. He pressed the button for the lift and the glass doors swished open classily, which never failed to impress Serenity. She always saw very flashy lifts as a sign of good taste. The lifts back at the tower block hadn't worked in the last four months and when they did, they were the most unpleasant experience with suspicious smells and the foreboding rattling that put Serenity on edge. It was even more so after one time the lift had broken while she was in it and she had been stuck in the metal box for a few hours while the fire brigade came for her. Joey had been frantic over the ordeal and pulled her into the tightest hug ever when she had finally escaped and since then hadn't set foot into those lifts again. She'd occasionally had a nightmare involving being trapped in a strange metal box she was certain was related to being in that terrifying incident.

The memory washed over her and she calmly stepped into the lift, Kaiba casually hitting the button to go down. Serenity couldn't help but notice the two buttons for higher floors.

"Where do they go to?" she asked him, pointing them out, and Kaiba looked to her blankly, the memory of earlier still bothering him.

"The next one up goes to the Kaiba Land control room that regulate the machines in case of any mechanical faults or in case a child jumps into the holo arena thinking he can pet his monster or some other ridiculous notion. The one after that is my office and the senior staff's office for when I'm not about, which frankly with Kaiba Corporation and college to deal with is less than seldom nowadays," he said listlessly, not really caring about Kaiba Land. It was a masterpiece of construction he had thought up and put a piece of his soul into, but now it was built he felt no particular love for it. He wasn't sure why because the compulsion to go against everything Gozaburo had ever done with the company drove him to create Kaiba Land with a vengeance.

The lift made a dinging noise to alert the occupants that they were a floor lower and the lift doors swished open. Kaiba motioned for Serenity to exit and she obliged, daintily stepping out, once more staring about as the sounds of the business fair washed over her.

Kaiba gave the whole scene a disdainful look, as if the fair was an intrusion on his duelling machines and proceeded to stalk along past the stalls, vaguely glancing at the business products they were showing and Serenity followed him, now with a slight trepidation as the people running stalls locked their eyes on the two.

'_It must be Kaiba's presence that's making them stare. Ooh, it's putting me on edge and I hate that!'_ Serenity troubled and grimaced as the stall occupants didn't look away. Then another, more disturbing idea permeated into her mind, making her face redden slightly.

'_They don't think… that I'm Kaiba's girlfriend or something? Ugh, I never want to go out in public again!'_ she thought, feeling sickened.

Almost as if he heard her think his name, Kaiba turned his head to Serenity, who was now lagging behind slightly, and waited for her to catch up.

"Come on, we haven't got all day," he told her. It had not gone unnoticed to Kaiba that people were looking at them with interest, and it made him feel watched and uncomfortable, which in turn made him more grouchy.

Serenity drifted alongside him and looked about with interest at a stall that sold their self designed clothes. They had samples displayed at the stall that Serenity took an interest in, but Kaiba appeared beside her and surprisingly linked arms with her.

"Can't let you stray," he explained and drew her away from the stall and along the winding path the stalls made. Serenity wondered what made him suddenly take possession of her as she was guided towards a makeshift square that had a large stall in the centre with booklets and papers neatly lined on it.

"This has a list of everyone here," said Kaiba and let go of her to stroll up to the stall and picked up a hefty looking booklet, flicking through the pages with vague interest. Serenity looked about the paths she could take; the one she just came from and the other two that stretched perpendicular to the path she just came from.

She glanced to Kaiba poring over the booklet he'd picked up, making sure he was distracted and then carefully wandered off down the path to her left, deciding that her way of touring around Kaiba Land was the best.

'_Why look at a list when you have all this around you?'_ she sighed in her head and stopped to look at a stall marketing beautifully decorated trinkets. Though they had no practical value, they could be useful as gifts, or…

Serenity frowned, realising her business head was taking over and questioned why she didn't want to think like a businessman.

'_Because you might become like Kaiba… because you just want to enjoy today and think about the project later,'_ her mind insisted and the thought of Kaiba turned her thoughts to him.

'_Why did he link arms with me like that? And in public of all places! Who knows who saw? Was he becoming all… possessive? Over me?'_ her mind mulled, but was cut short by someone grabbing her bare arms and spinning her around.

She gasped out in shock and the pain from the pressure being exerted on her arms and looked up to see Kaiba glowering.

"Don't wander off," he told her and she gritted her jaw, become increasingly irritated by his possessive nature.

"Who are you to tell me what to do? You don't own me!" she raised her voice, causing people to turn their heads and stare at the two. Kaiba looked at her with burning eyes of anger, but did nothing, his hands still gripping her arms, the booklet nowhere in sight.

Once more Kaiba wondered whether to let her go or not. His hands felt like they _couldn't_ let go of her arms and this concerned him, though he didn't show it. Emotions coursed through him that he couldn't name and he wasn't sure what to do and whether there might be something wrong with him. Perhaps he'd finally lost it. Serenity gazed worriedly into his azure eyes and he cast his eyes down to hers. He couldn't miss the abject fear that began to filter into her brown eyes as he remained motionless, holding on to her.

He couldn't look away from her frozen figure and Serenity felt slightly panicked at this turn of events. What on earth was he doing?

Kaiba was about to finally let go of her when a voice intervened, causing the two to look in the direction of the yell.

"Hey!" a familiar voice hollered from a distance away and Serenity recognised her brother straightaway.

"…Joey…" she mumbled and Kaiba felt his arms finally let her go. Serenity didn't relax by any means as the problem of Joey witnessing this turn of events began to stress her out and she finally found her voice.

"What did you have to do that for?" she hissed angrily and Kaiba was lost for words, his mouth partly gaping at her. He quickly shut his mouth and ceased to look confused, instead masking it with a standoffish attitude as Joey stormed over to the two, ready for a fight.

"What are you doing here with my sister?!" Joey branched out from his original yell and Serenity shrunk back from his tirade into the trinket stall, unable to go any further. Kaiba turned away from her to face Joey who finally reached Kaiba and fumed.

"I _said_ what are you doing here with my sister?!" he snarled and Kaiba gave Joey a deprecating look.

"We're doing research for the business project," Kaiba replied levelly, but Joey was sharper than he looked.

"What was with the grabbing her like that? No-one touches Serenity like that – as if you hurt her! You do an' by God, you're gonna regret it!" Joey spouted and went to seize Kaiba's shoulders, but he backed away into Serenity, who squeaked.

Kaiba reached out a hand and wrapped it around Serenity's wrist and then pulled her beside him. In an instant she swiftly wrenched her wrist from his grip and gave him a hurt look.

"I'm not property, I'm your work partner," she voiced herself and Kaiba's face darkened. His face appeared to sudden close, become blank and sealed off from the world and Serenity watched with a vestige of interest in the face of Joey's scrutiny.

"I never claimed you were my property," he said in a low voice, angling his head so only Serenity could hear and she began to get terribly nervous regarding what was about to unfold in public. Joey went to shout, but Kaiba glowered and cut him off with his own speech.

"Listen, dog, why would I want to have anything to do with you or your family unless I absolutely have to?" Kaiba coldly reasoned and Joey started getting riled up by his cutting words.

"Shut up! You think you're better than us, jus' coz you're rich! Thing you don't realise is that we're too good for you! Serenity's better than anyone!" Joey shouted and put a protective arm around her, dragging Serenity away from the trinket stall and Kaiba, who looked ready to pound Joey into oblivion.

Kaiba remained silent, but his mind was seething with hatred towards Joey Wheeler, the dog, the loser…

"I am far too good for the likes of _you_," he spat spitefully in Joey's furious face, losing his temper and Joey finally snapped, his face contorting from fury to abject rage.

The onlookers gasped as Joey lurched forward, roughly grabbed Kaiba's collar and dragged him down to the ground, ready to pound the older man's face in with a quivering fist. Only Serenity's balled-fists scream made him pause and turn his head to see his sister standing there looking stricken as the two vied for control over the battle. Kaiba's tall, thin, but deceptively strong body took control and forced Joey's face to the carpeted floor, making Joey wriggle and squirm, mirroring his sister's frame, which trembled in horror and embarrassment at the situation.

"I can't take this!" she shrieked and everyone turned to stare at what they thought to be Kaiba's new girlfriend as she ran out in a flurry of tears, leaving the two to continue their tussle.

Joey and Kaiba had begun viciously punching one another, but suddenly paused in their scuffling to look up and see Serenity's departing body and they glared at one another. Kaiba and Joey separated and Kaiba finally became self conscious of the people staring at the great Seto Kaiba lowering himself to a school boy's scrap. He straightened his shirt's collar and returned to a cool and collected demeanour, though inside he felt an attack of emotion and couldn't help but feel angry. He'd been so impassive these past five or more years and now it was falling apart. Kaiba's mind was telling him that this public display would not look good for Kaiba Corp's image. Gozaburo's devious teachings took over and Kaiba felt revulsion as he employed his step father's usual tactics when he did something stupid.

"If this leaves Kaiba Land then I swear none of you will work again," he growled menacingly, looking around the crowd with eyes filled with hate. The crowd unanimously nodded and Kaiba, satisfied, stormed out of the building and back to his car, leaving Joey to stand like a dishevelled wretch as he massaged a fast forming bruise on his jaw.

Kaiba needed a drink.

A/N: And I think I needed one too after I wrote that, which feels like ages ago. This is now officially the biggest chapter to date, due to some modifications to the next one, which was about eight thou, but I've broken it down into two parts so you're eyes don't go square or something. More aesthetically pleasing, maybe. Well, it's done and I'm happy with it. A bit more mean Kaiba, some Joey intervention I wanted and so good ol' Serenity running from fight from sheer embarrassment. Personally, my favourite part was Mokuba driving. Hope you guys liked it – I sure as hell enjoyed writing fighting, I'm hoping reading the fighting was just as good. Good? Good.

And I'd also like to make my usual thank you to all those reviewers who kindly take the time to tell me whether they liked this piece, and what maybe went a bit skew-whiff (love that phrase – being British can be so great sometimes). Thanks!

13


	6. A Talk with a Few Friends Part One

A quick A/N: In response to DragonZHell: Appreciate the review, but I know where I'm steering this boat and there will be no foreseeable skip-to-the-end type chapters – at least that I know about. However, if the suspense is too much, I shall make a quick ending of the tale ahem, knuckle cracking:

And Seto immediately felt terrible about what he had done to embarrass Serenity so terribly in front of so many. Discarding the thought of a drink, he left to immediately pursue Serenity, who he encountered in a park. Her face was tear streaked and he took her into his arms, pausing to gaze at her. Finally, he realised that she was the missing part of his soul and he was bound to her forevermore. Hopelessly, he discovered, he was in love and he swiftly proceeded to apologise and speak his true feelings for her. She, in turn, reiterated said feelings (substituting her name for his) and they walked off into the afternoon with wide happy smiles on their faces. A shotgun marriage ensued and they lived happily ever after.

Sorry. I really couldn't help myself. I'm sorry, I don't mean to offend, but I have been assured by reliable sources that I'm not moving the story too slowly. This needs to slowly develop, so that's exactly what I'm doing. If only this story had of been as easy as that. On with the true story!

**Chapter Six: A Talk with a Few Friends (part one)**

'_Why do people have to mess about with my feelings so much over one single morning?!'_ Serenity thought morosely to herself as she stormed out of Kaiba Land, tears of anger streaming down her face. She'd been apprehensive, then scared, happy, worried, angry and frightened – she felt like she'd been spun like a kaleidoscope through the myriad of emotions you could experience and she had had enough for one day.

Ignoring any cries from behind her, she ducked into a narrow path that led away from Kaiba Land to a smaller street. Serenity wasn't even sure where she was heading, allowing her feet to walk for her while her mind sorted itself out. At the moment her mind really needed the time; it had officially spun into turmoil. With ease, Serenity lost herself in thoughts.

'_Why did they have to do that – to completely embarrass me and themselves in that awful ordeal?!'_ her mind ranted as her legs turned her along another street. Serenity began to calm down a little, the torrent of feelings receding and leaving an emptiness that was filled with a rush of depression.

Her feet slowed down as she finally looked around to see where she was and to her surprise she had walked herself to the local park. Serenity wondered why she might have walked herself here, but let it pass and proceeded on into the park to the nearest bench and rested her legs. She felt like she's been walking forever, her eyes feeling dry as if she hadn't blinked enough. She peered at her watch to find she had aimlessly wandered for over an hour and it was now lunchtime. The amount of time lost worried her, but didn't deter the thoughts that were being constantly turned over in her head.

'_Why did Joey overreact like that? And Kaiba holding on to me like that… almost as if he couldn't let go… I think that he's taken it upon himself to think that he's the self proclaimed leader of this damn project and that because I'm part of it… I'm his too,'_ she thought bitterly, a frown crossing her face as her little knapsack she had forgotten about dug into her back. She peeled it away from her shoulders and plopped it next to her, then saw some movement from the corner of her eye. Some fear trickled coldly down her spine and a shiver snaked its way across her shoulders.

"Serenity?" a voice enquired and Serenity whipped her head to her left to see Mokuba meandering along toward her with a backpack slung across his shoulder. He looked like a celebrity the way he was dressed, his actions, _everything_ really, Serenity decided as he swung himself next to her.

'_Born to shine…'_ she contemplated with a knowing smile, which she immediately hid.

"Hi, Mokuba. What are you doing here?" Serenity enquired as she gave a half-hearted wave as her depressive stupor refused to budge. Mokuba watched her for a moment, being the Kaiba who was quite emotionally intuitive, but since she merely waited for an answer, he let it pass for the moment.

"I take my lunches out here – I don't like many of the kids at my school, so every couple of days I come here. Why are you here, Serenity? Did you get that paper in on time?" Mokuba explained a little unwillingly, but pounced on asking her questions, if only to deflect interest in him for a while.

"Yes, I handed the paper in on time. Then Kaiba took me to Kaiba Land and it became a total disaster when he and Joey began to fight. I left and here I am," Serenity morbidly explained and Mokuba saw that she had been crying, the faint redness around her eyes contrasting from her pale rosy face that made it a clear giveaway. He pulled out his lunch and offered her a sandwich, which Serenity gratefully took, though she still looked a little distraught. She slowly nibbled the sandwich to make it last.

"Was it that bad?" he whispered and she bit her lip to stop herself crying again and silently nodded. Mokuba put an arm around her shoulder and she gulped a few times, but refused to cry, firmly deciding that she had cried far too much in the past couple of days.

"He was acting… so strange and unlike himself. I've never heard of Kaiba, or even known Joey to do something that stupid and so public," Serenity divulged to Mokuba worriedly and the boy shrugged, then a thought hit him and his face became pensive.

"Seto's been kinda different since the Business project started up. More agitated," Mokuba confided to Serenity and her tears were forgotten, a new interest taking its place.

"Really?" But it's only been a day," Serenity replied with an edge of suspicion, but Mokuba dismissed her suspicion with an idle wave of his hand in her direction while she ate a bit more.

"Yeah, but when I've seen him he's been all… weird, like something's going on in his head," Mokuba elaborated, pointing to his head and twirling it around his temple for effect and Serenity's curiosity was fired up once more.

"I wonder what he's hiding...?" Serenity wondered aloud and the two sat in silence as they each thought about it, the questions Kaiba posed making both silently wonder what the great and mysterious Seto Kaiba was hiding.

>

There was something that Kaiba indeed was hiding which Serenity, and even Mokuba a little, became interested to find out what it was. The more she thought about it, the more she realised how complicated Kaiba was and how much he appeared to hide, as she sat in the light breeze with Mokuba mulling over it.

There was one simple answer for the morning's antics that had left Joey so angry, Serenity so upset and Kaiba so mixed up.

Emotion.

It broiled under his skin until Kaiba couldn't stand it anymore. Serenity had fuelled him with emotion at that fair and he couldn't handle it, he was so used to burying it away. This is what he hid away – that Gozaburo had forced into the recesses of his mind in favour of the honed cold calculated decision making. The undisclosed amount of scotch that he'd drunk was taking effect and enhancing his dark thoughts to a point he could no longer handle it.

With a yell of anguish Kaiba picked up an expensive vase, stood, and prepared to throw it, but he steadied it in the air as the calculating side urged him not to lose control to emotion. Repressed emotions surged to the foreground of his mind and made their mixed decision. Anger. Happiness.

"Screw it!" he yelled and hurled the porcelain into the far wall, dashing it into a thousand pieces and sat back into his chair as the built up emotions drained away. He collapsed back into his chair and hadn't felt this terrible in a while. This happy either, now he came to think about it.

'_Happy…'_ his mind idly wondered and Kaiba shied away from the thought, preferring to stumble out of his chair and go find Mokuba, maybe to help him or something, he wasn't too sure.

Like a strange string puppet, he made his way over to the door and then his uncoordinated legs gave way and he fell into the hallway, barely halting the slight laugh that escaped his lips as he looked fuzzily about him from the floor.

"This is like… a game…" he struggled to say aloud and climbed to his feet before heading unsteadily to down the corridor to the entrance. Five minutes passed when he reached the front door and he fiddled with his pocket until he triumphantly produced his phone. With a frown he reached the number for Lanoka and dialled, then remembered when there was no reply that Lanoka was in hospital being checked up on after last night's events.

"Useless staff," he spat and chucked the phone at the wall, smashing it up too. He opened the door and wandered along the grounds and out onto the street with a deadpan expression as he thought.

'_I should go talk to Mokuba. He knows how to deal with emotional stuff,'_ he sluggishly decided and unsteadily proceeded down the street in the direction of the high school. He vaguely wondered if he should wander into public like… like not himself and stuff, but this floated away with any other inhibitions he may have had. A thought occurred asking why he thought alcohol was a good idea for 'freedom'. It really wasn't, his mind cautioned him as control escaped him.

He didn't like losing control, yet here he was on the street, slum drunk – a less than rare occurrence - looking for Mokuba to ask him what to do. Why?

'_Because you behaved like an idiot and thought that drinking would numb the pain from where Joey smacked you, but you kept going because you wanted to try and get rid of that emotional part that began to emerge. You're an idiot; your emotions become somewhat heightened from alcohol. A genius should know those kinds of things,'_ he accused himself as he stumbled upon Domino High.

"I _do_ know that about alcohol… and where is Mokuba?" he muttered and then his eyes were caught by the nearby park. He thought he recalled Mokuba telling him about visiting the park at lunchtimes and he guessed it was about that.

With a thin smile, he made his way towards the park.

>

"No matter; no-one knows what goes on in my big brother's head – even him sometimes," Mokuba said and stretched back, feeling better in the company of Serenity. Serenity too felt a little uplifted and a small smile crept onto her lips as she watched the younger boy recline as if it was hot outside when the skies were becoming greyer by the minute and the wind was picking up.

"I'm glad I found you," she said and a grin spread across Mokuba's face.

"Of course! I inspire confidence, don't you know?" he declared haughtily and his grin became wicked while he took out his phone.

"Hey – I couldn't get your number off you, could I? It's just I think it'd would be nice for us to keep in contact when we're down or whatever," he said charmingly, making Serenity giggle.

"Sure," she replied and fished her own phone out from her miniature knapsack. Within a minute they each had a new number and the two stood facing each other as goodbyes approached.

"Oh my god – we've been talking for like an hour!" Serenity gasped, her hand reaching up and covering her gob smacked mouth as she caught the time on her phone, but Mokuba merely shrugged dismissively.

"Don't care to be honest. I know I'll pass my exams; I've got the Kaiba genes. We're born smart and I hate it there anyway," Mokuba said, unfazed by potential punishment. He knew the teachers didn't dare lay a finger on him in case they lost their jobs over the hassle.

"Well, I suppose this is goodbye for now. Thank you for the sandwich, Mokuba. I think I should go see Yugi – I haven't had a proper chat with him in ages!" Serenity explained as she gave him a hug and Mokuba briefly closed his eyes as academic lethargy took over at the prospect of returning to his lesson for the afternoon.

"Yeah, I'm sure to see you in no time!" he replied brightly and he reluctantly left her to sit on the bench again while she checked she had the money to catch the local train to Yugi's area.

"Just enough for a return ticket," she murmured with a small smile to herself and stood to leave, but suddenly froze when she heard footsteps approach, her mind immediately turning to last night and the man who was supposedly Bakura. She really had to ask Yugi about that…

She yelped as a neatly dressed and extremely familiar man staggered in front of her, then recovered to reveal it was in fact Kaiba. It shocked her to see him like this and her mind begged the question as to whether something terrible had happened to cause him to behave this way.

'_How did he manage to get himself into such a state?'_ she fleetingly thought as he finally caught sight of her and sat on the bench, slumping scruffily.

"Kaiba? Is that really you?" she said warily aloud to him and he rolled his blank cobalt eyes to hers as a breeze ruffled his hair. He looked oddly out of place in nature, as if he belonged with the technology he embraced.

"Who else would it be...? Where's Mokuba? I thought he'd be here," he replied emotionlessly and Serenity hurried over to him, wondering what the hell had happened. She sat herself down and couldn't help but stare at him, as if he had mutated into some new creature.

'_Did he behave like this behind closed doors, or something?'_ part of her mulled privately, but she focused her attention on his question about his brother.

"Mokuba went back to school," she said shortly, then looked at his new state with a kind of horrified wonder.

"What have you done in a little over an hour?" she said mostly to herself as she thought back to him at Kaiba Land, cold, violent and largely in control – well, more control than he now seemed to be in.

"You know… went home after threatening a bunch of people and had a few scotches to numb the pain, 'cause Joey hit me in the shoulder and it ached… well not anymore, my body's all deadened…" he told her, reaching out and grasping her wrists. Serenity felt his grip was soft and unthreatening and he watched her as if she was fascinating. She detected the twang of alcohol on his breath and turned her head slightly to the side to inhale the cold park air.

"That's… weird. I suppose I should get you home," she unenthusiastically decided and gently pulled her wrists out of his loose grip, turning her head to the wind so a few stray strands of hair blew off her face, only for the breeze to suddenly billow into a full blown gust and sent a chill through her tank top.

"Yeah, home," he slurred slightly, unconcerned, and Serenity slid her arm underneath his shoulders and attempted to lift him up to no avail, her slight five foot two frame unable to support Kaiba's six foot one stature. The only positive thing she could think about the situation was that at least he was warm as the gusts continued.

"Come on, work with me here," she struggled to say, wishing that she could just get out of this situation and catch that damn train to Yugi's. She had more important things to do than sort a rather vulnerable Kaiba out.

'_Why me?'_ she mentally moaned as Kaiba began to walk along with her, albeit slowly and a little precariously. Kaiba felt mixed up inside, unsure if the alcohol was making him feel odd around Serenity's close proximity. She was quietly beautiful, he was willing to admit that, but whether he would admit that he actually felt anything towards her was another matter entirely. He felt for no-one, save his brother, and even that was slipping away as Mokuba grew up. Soon, he would have nobody, and perhaps – a small nasty fraction of him whispered – it was for the best for him to live alone so he couldn't hurt people. He always seemed to end up hurting people with verbal attacks… Serenity was a prime example. A mere day in his presence and she had spent a huge period of it unhappy or crying.

"I can't believe you left the house in this state…" Serenity vaguely tried to make conversation with the inebriated man who was making it harder for her to walk. Kaiba either didn't hear, or couldn't care less, as his eyes slowly travelled to Serenity's brown ones and rested there.

"I like holding you," Kaiba said still with the slur and held onto one of her arms as they made it down the street towards the mansion.

"Right," she replied offhandedly, but inside a part of her leapt with this confession and she briefly contemplated whether Kaiba meant it. He probably had no idea what he was saying drunk like this.

"No, really," he slowly insisted and tried to hug her, but she pulled away so he flailed like he was wading through treacle in midair before straightening onto two feet. After a moment of indecision, Serenity relented and began to pull Kaiba along once more. She hoped that no-one would recognise him and cause any aggravation – Serenity desperately wanted to reach the mansion and get the hell out of there.

"'S all conflicted though, but I can't tell nobody about that," he stage whispered near her ear and Serenity decided that Kaiba was the most messed up person she'd ever met while she hauled him along. She felt annoyed at herself that a part of her really wanted to know what else he was going to say and was straining to hear his deep voice tell her what he felt while in his intoxicated state.

"It would be nice if you weren't pretty, 'cause I wouldn't have to look at you twice," he wistfully continued his disjointed train of thought while Serenity hefted Kaiba up to the mansion's looming gates.

"I'm glad you live nearby," she changed the subject and coaxed Kaiba into punching the key code into the metal number pad. After ten minutes of thinking what the code was, he finally but excruciatingly slowly pressed the buttons and they walked up the long drive. Serenity peered at her watch to find that she had wasted the last half an hour getting him home and cursed herself for being too nice to people in need. She was going to have to call on Yugi later than she would have liked, but felt bad that she was going to have to lie about why. Serenity couldn't have told anyone about this – she felt too bad that Kaiba had started drinking because of her brother, but still lying was something Serenity rarely did and it troubled her that she'd have to.

"Couldn't you have taken some painkillers instead?" she asked Kaiba as they neared the front double doors and Kaiba appeared to mull on it for a minute, his cobalt eyes half closing as he thought.

"Didn't have any. Didn't care either, just wanted to numb my head a bit 'cause of all the feelings…" he trailed off as if he was saying things he shouldn't of and remained passive up to the tough doors. Serenity couldn't help but hear all these strange comments Kaiba was making and her mind speculated over if Kaiba really had felt anything and what could have triggered these newfound emotions.

She ignored the thought though in favour of finding a way into Kaiba's mansion and looked about for a wall device to find the key card slot next to the buzzer she had used only last night. A few chilling memories of the man haunting outside here only last night made her give a small involuntary shiver, but she valiantly tried to ignore it.

"Key card?" she asked him and Kaiba rummaged in his pockets for a few minutes before producing the card, which Serenity unintentionally snatched from him. She hastily apologised and he shrugged indifferently, his eyes blearily gazed up at the cloudy grey sky that threatened to finally spill out its rain, and Serenity turned to slide the card key through.

"Voice identity," a cool female computer voice replied and Serenity silently motioned for Kaiba to speak, whose forehead creased for a moment, his mind lethargically processing what she meant.

"Uh, Seto Kaiba," he said and the door clicked open to Serenity's relief. She helped him through the door and turned to leave after sitting him on the bottom stair so his legs were comically nearly level with his shoulders, though he didn't appear to notice.

"I'm sure you'll be fine now, alright?" she said as she went to exit, but Kaiba called out and she faced him once more.

"Please don't leave me. I can hardly walk," he complained, rather reminiscent of Mokuba, with a touch of his sober commanding mannerism and Serenity felt some pity for the dishevelled man sitting before her, looking up at her foggily.

"…Okay," she gave in and he stood so he leant against the wall, so she could help him up the luxuriously carpeted stairs. Serenity couldn't help but sneak a mean smirk at the thought of their somewhat mud tainted shoes leaving marks on the carpeting - she saw it as a small payment for her help.

"I'm amazed you would allow yourself to be so reliant. I thought you did everything on your own," she said conversationally and a bark of mirthless laughter escaped Kaiba's mouth.

"I'm not in a fit state of mind right now," he conceded slowly, and a matching smile crept onto his face, "that and deep down…" he stopped talking, his face darkening as he struggled to talk about such things. Gozaburo never lurked far from the surface of Kaiba's mind, even drunk like he was and he was silenced.

Serenity saw out of the corner of her eye Kaiba become far less animated than he'd been a minute ago and his eyes were cast to the ground as his feet slowly stepped up the stairs. Serenity thought of Kaiba as an enigma she could only view from a distance, but here he was up close, practically in her arms and a silent seriousness seemed to fill the air, making Serenity a little unnerved.

They reached his bedroom and she felt Kaiba become tense as she prodded the door open with a foot and walked him to his bed. He fell back, dragging her down with him and Serenity yelped in surprise as he gave another short bark of laughter, this time of amusement. Kaiba didn't speak, only watched her as she recovered herself from the shock of the fall and the fact he was so forward in pulling her down with him. Before she could move off him, he took her face in his hands and pulled her into a kiss, his hands sliding down across her shoulders and arms while slowly moving his lips from her mouth to across her jaw and down her neck, but before he could get any further, Serenity pulled back in disbelief and swiftly climbed off the bed, her face reddening to crimson.

"Why did you do that?" she asked slightly fearfully, but with an edge of inquisitiveness as her flushed skin burned. Kaiba closed his eyes and lay prone on his bed, his hands empty and hanging in the air propped up by his elbows, looking strange to Serenity who stood looking down at him. She felt mixed up inside, not sure what she felt when he had placed his lips on her. She waited mutely for an answer, her eyes riveted on the motionless man before her.

"Wanted to," was all he said before rolling onto his side and seemingly falling asleep. Serenity remained standing next to his bed for a few minutes, checking he was alright before slipping out of the mansion and clearing her mind of the whole bizarre event. Kaiba admitting stuff to her when he barely knew her, only as Joey Wheeler's sister - which in his eyes was an appalling evil - was kind of disturbing. Why did he kiss her like she was so delicate, like she was something almost meaningful to him? This to her was completely ridiculous given the time period of nearly two days they had spent together and she shook her head as if to free the thoughts from her head as she briskly walked down the drive.

The train station was only a fifteen minute walk from Kaiba's mansion and Serenity used the time to put what happened with Kaiba to the back of her mind so she was free to talk to Yugi without blushing and could see if Bakura really was back in town and if he did figure into that attack Kaiba claimed to be the mild-mannered man…

…Kaiba. What was he thinking when he did that?

A/N: This is the chapter where I look back and go 'wow, they've only been working on this damn project for about _two days_ and all this stuff is happening?! What am I thinking?!'

Breathe, breathe… okay, I reminded myself. I think I need to slow things down a bit, so the next chapter – which is chock full of Serenity and about no appearance of Kaiba… quick peek at chapter yeah, pretty sure no Kaiba there. Yugi, I can announce, does make an appearance. This was originally eight thousand words long, so you can probably guess why it's 'part one'. I thought it would be easier to break it down to two four thousand bits for you guys. Okay, so maybe I'm really trying to buy myself some time to finish what used to be chapter seven, but now got bumped up to chapter eight… ah, well. Hope you guys liked it and thank you for those reviews – they really do make a gal want to keep on typing!

PS – Oh, yeah I've only just realised that my little divider symbols I use don't show up on coz they think it's HTML or something, so sorry if you guys got confused over how the story switched about, especially in Chapter 3. D'oh! I think I've filled them all in now, so it's okay. Maybe. Arrggh, the anguish!


	7. A Talk with a Few Friends Part Two

**Chapter Seven: A Talk with a Few Friends (part two)**

'_Forget about it, or you could be scarred for life by the memory,'_ her mind tried to joke, but it didn't sound very funny to her as she turned the corner to see the train station was only a couple of streets away.

The sky gave an ominous crack of thunder that rippled across the air overhead, making Serenity shiver as she neared the station. Today clearly wasn't going to be her day. Strange attractions, fights… she'd had enough stress and now her mind demanded answers, hopefully that Yugi had. She knew it was his off day and was hoping that he was at home.

A streak of lightning flashed briefly, though it was mostly light and didn't look particularly spectacular in the dim grey sky. Serenity sighed and wished she had worn a jumper instead of a flimsy top.

'_Trust me,'_ she thought glumly as she finally reached the doors of the train station and hauled one open and slipped through into busy main floor, people milling about with coffee cups tilting about as business associates conversed gripping their suitcases in a businesslike manner, trying to look important.

Serenity hated it. As good as she was at her business classes, she felt no love for it - not massive corporations. The small business was her dream, a small self-run successful business to call her own. She would sell whatever the market was smiling upon at the time and spin it so _everyone_ would want one. That was a little devious, manipulative part of her she didn't like to think of, but was so useful on occasion.

She shelved those thoughts as she approached the ticket booth and quickly snapped up a return ticket off to Yugi's district, the man giving her a warm smile as she thanked him and hurriedly left for the platform. She was just going to make it, luckily. Though it wasn't so lucky that as soon as she was outside, the rain began to pour and the small overhang didn't really do anything to protect her from the onslaught. Serenity cursed herself for wearing too summery a top and shivered as the wind blew. The people milling about on the platform put up their umbrellas, which periodically pulled violently against the gusts, and patiently waited for the train while Serenity leant against the station wall to hide from the elements, her small bag digging into her back, and wrapped her arms around her body, wondering if Yugi would understand her situation better than Joey ever could.

'_Joey thinks with his heart, not his head. Which isn't always bad, but it makes it difficult to get him to just_ listen _when it's a subject he has a passionate hate about. I wish I had someone to talk to about this business project, and Yugi looks like my best hope,'_ she thought to herself morosely as the storm became even worse, the rain hurling itself at the ground while the sky grumbled forebodingly and the clouds were occasionally illuminated by the sudden bursts of lightning.

The noise of the train brought her hope and she peered out to see the train turn the corner and grind to a halt in front of her. A smile formed, any memories of 'the Kaiba Incident' out of her mind, and she made her way into the lukewarm heated carriage. Looking about, businesspeople primly sat and made Serenity feel uncomfortable and she pushed through to the next carriage to find it empty. Relieved she didn't have to have to sit with blank faced workaholics, she collapsed in a stiff chair and wished she had brought a bag stuffed with all kinds of oddities to keep her amused. Instead, all she had was her phone, a lip gloss she rarely used and a pen, which she decided that was better than absolutely nothing at all.

The train jolted, signalling its departure and Serenity glanced out of the window to see the rain streaked windows look out on a blurry grey landscape of concrete buildings. Sometimes she hoped there would be some greenery, but it hadn't, as yet, come true. Her hair was a little damp and her clothes weren't too dry either, so she resigned herself to being damp until she got to Yugi's. To console herself, she dug out her phone from the petite knapsack and began to play one of a few games she had on her phone. It wasn't the most up to date phone around, her and Joey being constantly strapped for cash, but it served its purpose. The next fifteen minutes needed to journey over to Yugi's part of Domino passed reasonably quickly as she worked towards a high score, consuming every damn mouse that came into her path.

Only the slight shake from the train halting alerted the distracted Serenity that they had arrived at Yugi's district and she hurried off, back once more into the rain, which was even worse than earlier. She spirited herself into the small station before she was soaked again and sidled by a heater to dry off before attempting the potentially arduous journey to Yugi's cosy house. To her inward annoyance, thought's of Kaiba's actions came back to haunt her and she wondered what he thought of her.

'_Why would he do that? He hates me, doesn't he? Or… what? What, Serenity? He could actually find me attractive rather than an Joey's sister?... I'm not sure if I like the idea of that, maybe I should stay away. I wish I could tell someone about what happened, but no-one would speak to me again! How embarrassing!'_ her mind slowly turned over what had happened and began to become lost in her thoughts as she focused on Kaiba once more.

'_Kaiba… he's so powerful that defying him could mean me ending up as some kind of business pariah, which sucks because I haven't done anything wrong! His eyes are what scare me – they're so cold and livid sometimes, but when he works he almost looks… happy. Hmm, maybe occupied, I don't know. What do _I_ think of him?... I'm not sure. When he holds me like he can't let me go, I feel odd. There's a kind of need of some kind there that makes me feel like I want him to keep holding on until he feels… safe perhaps? Other times he's so horrible, like he relishes being nasty to me. And Mokuba is the antithesis of Kaiba, so carefree and kind in his own charming way. I wonder why he swapped numbers with me, because I have a feeling it wasn't just to talk when we're down. Oh, I don't know anymore, everything's messed up. At least I'm toasty now, suppose I should go talk to Yugi and hope he has some answers and advice.'_

She pulled away from the heater and wandered over to the front entrance to see the rainstorm had calmed a little and the rain had eased slightly, which drew her away from her long spell of thinking that had temporarily distracted her from the world and brought about mixed feelings she didn't want to process. Instead she focused on the quickest route to Yugi's. In fact…

Serenity took out her phone and dialled Yugi's number. Why the thought hadn't occurred before eluded her, but as Joey often liked to tell her (and his teachers, landlord and boss) 'better late than never, right?'

"Oh Joey," Serenity sighed, wishing her brother would see sense and paid attention as the phone began its monotonous ring. She silently prayed for Yugi to pick up. A click made her suck in a breath of relief.

"Hello?" Yugi replied cheerily and Serenity smiled at his voice. She'd always liked Yugi, she considered him a true friend to all and loved him for his sense of justice he possessed.

"Yugi! Hi, it's Serenity!" she said, putting on an equally cheery voice, though after everything that had happened today she didn't really feel too happy anymore.

"Serenity, good to hear from you! I thought you might be dead or something from the way Joey was going on about killing you and Kaiba," Yugi joked and Serenity had a funny feeling that there was a piece of truth to his words. Yugi didn't really like lying in any context and Serenity admired him for it. Right now she wished that she didn't have to lie, but facing the truth seemed far worse. She noticed that she wasn't replying and mentally kicked herself into gear.

"Sorry, off in my own world for a moment there. No, no – I haven't been struck dead yet. I was wondering if I could come by your place and talk. I feel so isolated with the stupid business project I have to deal with and you seem like the only person who'll listen to me," she poured out her feelings in a rush and Yugi could hear the slight note of desperation that tinged her voice and took pity on her position. It couldn't be fun to be caught in the middle between two enemies where she held a duty to both.

"Of course, you're always welcome here Serenity. Where are you now?" he enquired and Serenity felt a little sheepish that she'd had the audacity to come over to his district when she didn't even know if he'd allow company.

"… I'm at the station a few streets away from your house. Sorry I was so forward," she apologised and Yugi couldn't help but chuckle at her apologetic nature that was so endearing.

"Don't beat yourself up about it. Will you be alright in the rain?" he checked with her and she almost nodded, though of course he wouldn't see it and shook her head at her stupidity.

"Yes, I'll be fine. See you soon!" she replied cheerfully and cut the call, thankful that she would finally have someone to share at least some of her problems.

'_What will Yugi think of me? No chagrin needed. He'll understand, I'm sure.'_

She ventured outside to see the rain had died down to a drizzle and walked out, shivering as the cold air ran across her bare arms, contrasting from the heater air. With another curse at herself for not dressing properly – what had she been thinking? – she nimbly crossed the street packed with traffic trying to enter the train station car park, looked back feeling distinctly harried and hurriedly walked down a quiet road that led to Yugi's street.

Serenity, along the way, tried to convince herself that she was satisfied by her intrepid adventure into the rain to visit Yugi for about an hour before she would need to catch the train, once more, in order to get home to start making dinner so Joey would forgive her.

'_Meatballs in sauce… pizza… yeah, pizza and the biggest dessert he ever laid eyes on!'_ Serenity decided as she reached Yugi's street and saw his red front door shine through the gauze of light rain.

'_That varnish sure makes Yugi's place look like the epitome of living,' _Serenity couldn't help but get a little envious over Yugi's small house he shared with his grandpa only a five minute walk from the game shop. It was their own, not rented like her and Joey's place, and they kept it meticulously clean. Sometimes she wished Joey would clean up after himself, even if it was only occasionally…

She tapped with the smart gold doorknocker and she was answered almost immediately by the elfin, wide-eyed face of Yugi, his head surrounded by that familiar explosion of violet, blonde and a tinge of black hair.

"Yugi!" she cried and embraced him tightly, taking Yugi by surprise that she didn't dash into the house, instead remaining in the slowly intensifying rain.

"Come in before you freeze to death, Serenity! Couldn't you find a coat?" he chided her and Serenity entered, careful to wipe her feet on the mat and take her shoes off, popping them next to the door Yugi hastily shut from the elements.

"Sorry, I didn't know the weather was going to be this bad," she said apologetically and Yugi shook his head and guided her to the cosy living room, sitting her by the cheering fire. She looked about at the empty room, as if expecting someone else to be present.

"Where's Grandpa Moto?" she asked with interest and Yugi shook his head.

"You sure aren't with it today, are you, Serenity? Grandpa is down at the game shop like he always is on a Tuesday. I would have helped out as well, but business is apparently slow and I had some left over work to do," he sighed and she smacked her forehead, realising what an idiot she was being. Feeling embarrassed that she was behaving a little off the wall, she faced the fire and purposefully focused on calming herself and drying off.

'_Must be the rain and cold. I need to calmly explain the situation when I'm right in the frame of mind.'_

Yugi allowed her to warm up, disappearing for a few minutes where he fetched a blanket. He draped it around her and then proceeded to the kitchen to prepare some tea for the two. He couldn't shake the feeling that Serenity hadn't dropped in just for a quick chat. The word 'divulge' cropped up in his thoughts a couple of times and his Yami couldn't help but agree with him that Serenity was acting a little off.

"Do you think something… terrible might have happened?" Yugi quietly whispered to his Yami and Yami-Yugi shrugged from the confines of the younger man's head.

'_I do not know, Yugi. But I would tread carefully and allow her to say what she feels the need to say,' _he counselled and Yugi nodded in agreement, pouring out the freshly boiled water into the Moto households finest teapot. Tipping in the tea, he prepared the best cups of tea he could manage, considering he had already begun to worry over what Serenity was going to say. As an afterthought, he put out an assortment of biscuits next to the teapot.

Yami-Yugi soothed his companion as best as he could, but once Yugi had set his mind on the fact one of his friend's could be in trouble and needed help, he fretted to no end. Loyalty, Yami-Yugi decided, could be a terrible burden for some overly kind-hearted souls.

Yugi carried out the tea tray into the living room where Serenity sat huddled in the warm tartan blanket next the fire, her eyes aglow but Yugi couldn't help but notice that something was amiss in those brown pools that led to her soul.

'_Don't get too poetic, people will think you love her,'_ Yami-Yugi couldn't help but tease and Yugi gave his counterpart a sharp mental poke. Yami-Yugi could already sense that Yugi's mind was denying the claim.

'_Yes, calm down! I know, I know, it's Tea we want,'_ he surrendered and Yugi settled down to pick up the cups of tea, handing one to Serenity with an encouraging smile.

She thanked him and took a small sip so she didn't burn her tongue, then returned to gaze into the flames that curled in the fireplace. The comforting smell of the kindling fire pervaded her nose.

"It's been one heck of a day," Serenity murmured and Yugi raised an eyebrow, glad she wasn't looking at his reactions.

"Really? Why, did something happen?" he gently probed and Serenity felt a spark of gladness that Yugi always took an interest in everyone's well-being, even Kaiba's to an extent.

'_Why did I bring him up, even if it was just in my mind?!'_ she berated herself, but forced all thought away, instead recalling the last two days events.

"Did you hear about my business teacher, Mr. Bamako, putting me and Kaiba on a project to help raise a grant for the college?" she timidly enquired, briefly looking at his face for a reaction. Yugi couldn't help but twist his face into an expression of pity.

"You could say that…" he trailed, thinking back to Joey calling him up after Serenity had apparently left the apartment to go around Kaiba's house to start on the project. He had to listen to Joey rant for several hours on the subject until he tired himself out and explained he was running one of the stalls at the business fair at Kaiba Land the next day, finally cutting the call. Yugi had had a headache for the rest of the evening.

"He was that annoyed, huh?" Serenity managed half a smile, but it swiftly dropped away so she looked terribly sombre, her eyes reflecting back hollowly.

"A little. He complained for a few hours," he gently told her and a small chuckle escaped her lips as she imagined what was going through Yugi's head at the memory of the mini Joey ordeal.

"Bet it felt like a lifetime," she commented, remembering times Joey had something to complain about to her and Yugi grinned, accompanying it with a nod. Yami-Yugi peered from behind Yugi's eyes at Serenity and noted the way her eyes seemed to reach out, as if desperate to tell her story.

'_She wants to talk, but something's holding her back. What, I cannot tell,'_ Yami-Yugi informed his partner and Yugi merely smiled understandingly.

"So, let me guess… Kaiba and you had to continue your studies on the project and the business fair seemed like a good place to start. Joey witnesses interaction common for normal people, but because it's Kaiba, he loses his head and did something terribly embarrassing and stupid. Am I warm?" Yugi took a stab, predicting Joey's inflamed temper when it came to Kaiba like a charm.

Serenity couldn't help but giggle at Yugi's uncanny ability to really get a good insight to how people behave and loved him for it.

"Couldn't be closer, though in Joey's defence Kaiba did look like he was being menacing toward me," she chipped in to complete Yugi's idea of what happened.

"That couldn't have gone well with Joey. Did Kaiba hurt you?" Yugi asked concernedly and Serenity smiled falsely and shook her head, depression firmly taking hold of her, the last of her joy sapped for today at least.

"No, he just was holding my arms a little tight because I wandered off. Kaiba doesn't seem to like it when I disappear suddenly," she told Yugi and the man's face twitched slightly as knowledge of Kaiba's past surfaced.

"Well, there may be a reason for that. I think Kaiba's always been a little afraid, deep down, of people leaving him for good. His parents did, one day they were there and the next a funeral was being arranged for one, then the other a few years later. I think it's left a lasting mark on Kaiba that can't really been seen, but re-emerges on such occasions." Yugi paused for a minute to gather his thoughts and make Serenity understand Kaiba a little better, "That's why Kaiba doesn't let people in I think, Serenity. If they get let in, they may one day just disappear before his eyes. I don't think that's an event he's willing to risk anymore after his parents demise leaving him and Mokuba at the orphanage." Yugi fell silent as realisation dawned on Serenity.

"Oh my God… that's probably why he didn't want to take the project, and then when it was forced on him, he didn't want me to be part of it. Perhaps what you were talking about had something to do with it…" she thought about Yugi's explanation, which rapidly made Kaiba a little less of a mystery and slightly easier to forgive for some of his actions.

"Yugi… there's a matter far more important I have to talk to you about," she paused to sort out her mind, but Yugi had a feeling that it was for some kind of dramatic effect.

"When I was around Kaiba's mansion, I saw Bakura on the grounds and I think he was after me. He, like, went for me when I tried to leave," she said in a rush, pouring out the events of the previous night. Yugi listening intently while Yami-Yugi watched on gravely.

'_Yami-Bakura is back. The Bakura, or Ryou, that you have come to know appears to have once more fallen to the power of the Millennium Ring,' _Yami-Yugi enlightened Yugi, who had already realised that fact and mentally grumbled to his Yami that he wasn't totally dense.

Serenity recoiled from the memory, the rawness of the fear from the attack Bakura appeared to have directed at her, chilling her. Why he would want her, she didn't know. It only made it more frightening that she had no idea why she seemed to be Bakura's target. Yugi saw the stark fear that she tried to cover with a stilted smile and wished that Joey would ignore Kaiba and support Serenity; she really needed it by the look of desolation and fear on her now ashen face.

Yugi took a log from the small nearby stack and threw it on the fire to help keep the heat up, hoping it would take away the paleness of Serenity's face that permeated her usually rosier skin.

"That doesn't sound like Ryou. It sounds like his Yami, which is derived from Ryou's gift, or should I say curse, the Millennium Ring. Ryou went to a facility in Tokyo to recover from the possession of the Millennium Ring a few years ago, but something must have gone wrong if Yami-Bakura is wandering around, attempting to attack people no less," Yugi told Serenity, who didn't look as afraid anymore and her cheeks were slowly filtering some pinkness again, to Yugi's relief.

"I feel slightly better knowing that, Yugi. I'm glad that it isn't Bakura, but this spirit, this bad Yami needs to be dealt with and I don't know how. I think I need help if I'm going to deal with this," Serenity said in a small voice and both Yugi and Yami-Yugi sat up and took notice.

"You can't do that! It's dangerous dealing with Bakura like this! He's capable of a lot that most wouldn't even ever _think_ of doing. Serenity, listen, please tell me you won't go looking for Bakura or trying to stop him if he finds you. Promise me you'll run as fast as you can and get help," Yugi pleaded and Serenity felt a resignation cross her mind and relent. She looked into Yugi's fretful violet eyes and firmly nodded to reassure him.

"Okay, Yugi. I won't look for him or anything. I promise," she said and they both fell silent, content to finish their tea and mull over what had been said.

Nearly an hour had passed since Serenity had arrived when suddenly she stood, the blanket falling to the floor and her brown eyes went wide as she noticed the time.

"Oh no, I have to catch the train and start dinner! I'm so sorry, Yugi but I have to go!" she flustered and hurriedly gave Yugi a hug, picked up the blanket, hastily folding it and leaving it on a nearby chair and dashed out of the house, shouting her thanks on the way out.

She left in a whirlwind, leaving Yugi to stand at the front door as she clattered down the street ignoring the puddles she splashed through. The rain had halted for now, leaving the streets paved in shining gold from the reflected sunlight on the water sheen.

'_Something needs to be done concerning Bakura. He cannot be allowed to roam free when he's clearly out of control, from Serenity's description. We need to get help to form a plan,'_ Yami-Yugi advised and Yugi stood rapt in the doorway as they conversed.

"Tea could help. Tristan too… maybe Mai, if she's willing. As for Joey… it looks like he's got enough on his plate right now. I think we should let him get over Serenity having to engage with people he may not necessarily like before we let loose with news like Serenity could be in danger," Yugi decided and Yami-Yugi raised a mental eyebrow.

'_That's sounds… almost underhand. Shouldn't siblings be informed if the other is in potential danger?'_

"I think Joey would be far more of a problem if he knew, than if he didn't. He'd take over Serenity's life and she'd never leave their apartment again!" Yugi protested, imaging Joey having Serenity under lock and key, employing himself as a bodyguard to make sure nobody, not Kaiba and definitely not Bakura, ever got anywhere near Serenity again.

'_I suppose,'_ Yami-Yugi conceded. _'Well, let us get to business.'_

"Alright," and with that he closed his finely varnished crimson door and began to set his and his Yami's vaguely thought out plan into motion…

A/N: Hey everybody! So there was part two for you. When I wrote about where Yugi lived, I always pictured some nice part of London, why I have no idea. An insight into my crazed mind perhaps. I don't quite like how it immediately starts from the last chapter, but you know that it used to be one giant chapter, which is kinda funny because when I originally planned this part, the next chapter from this was meant to be part of this one chapter too, until I wrote it and now it's in three pieces, technically… anyway, enough drivelling from me, I got stuff to type and whatnot… Once again, thank you for those reviews, the motivation I get from them is better than caffeine!


	8. Rushing Home While Coming To

**Chapter Eight: Rushing Home While Coming To**

Kaiba woke up with a massive headache that swam before his eyes like a red mist and he rolled out of bed, abruptly falling onto the floor with a loud thump. He groaned partly from the fall, but mostly from his incessantly pounding head and pulled himself to his feet before padding downstairs to the kitchen in the hope of some kind of pain relief.

Slowly raiding the cupboards for something to quell the dull pain, he was disappointed to find nothing and a strand of memory recalled him going through a similar procedure earlier, also to only find nothing and he had reached for… whatever it was, it was now gone into the fog of pain and he moaned, his forehead resting on the kitchen counter for a minute to gather his thoughts and allow the cool top soothe his head a little.

'_What the hell did I do to end up like the sorry wreck I am?'_ Kaiba questioned, his forehead furrowed in a mixture of pain and thought, and the cool counter relieved some of the pain, prompting a memory to surface. An image flickered in his mind of him in his office with a glass in his hand. He had taken the first glass of the brown liquid and swirled it around momentarily before downing it with barely a twitch. Almost like his adopted father used to.

'_Bloody scotch, that's what it was,'_ he remembered and wondered what had happened after that, but nothing came. Can't have been particularly remarkable, he decided and lifted his leaden head and left the kitchen. He furrowed his eyebrows to think where to go next, blearily looking about the corridor for an answer to be procured. Nothing but ridiculously expensive paintings Gozaburo had bought from the most famous auctions in the world and the occasional stand with a priceless vase or some other kind of artefact that the remaining Kaiba's took little interest in. Useless, Kaiba concluded, in temporarily making decisions for him.

Grumbling, he made his way to the living room and lay down on the nearest couch in the vague hope that perhaps Mokuba would come by and aid him. He paused to gather some strength, the headache sapping all his energy, but the need to find out how much time had passed and when Mokuba would be back forced him to briefly sit up and promptly groan from stabbing head pain.

Glancing at the clock on the wall, this would not be the case for another half an hour and an anguished whine resonated in his throat. Kaiba looked a wreck; his usually such meticulously neat hair an untidy mess of brown strands, while his cold eyes had given out in favour of looking tired and unfocused. Kaiba wished he could have had the foresight to avoid ending up like this and couldn't think at that moment what had driven him to behave so foolishly, frustrating him. A broken man, he curled up and went back to sleep.

>

'_Must go home… must prepare Joey's Special Dinner…'_ had become Serenity's newly thought up mantra as she hurried down the streets, which were now a golden hue from the peeking sun. She had already almost slipped over in a rain slicked piece of road she'd crossed, making her cry out and then swear loudly. Luckily, everyone seemed to have had the sense to stay in during the downpour and had yet the care to venture out once more as this sighting of the sun was obviously brief, the gloomy clouds already drifting along on course to blanket the sun once more.

Serenity hopped over a puddle and ran the inventory of the refrigerator and cupboards as best as she remembered them to find it was indeed possible to concoct the Special Dinner she had planned. Serenity was praying – while repeating her little mantra over and over – that the distraction of food would alleviate the stress Joey was under in the face of the business project that vexed him so.

'_Even though he isn't part of the damn project… he doesn't even have to face Kaiba. And speaking of Kaiba… what on Earth is he going to say about that… that _thing_ that happened? That thing is not going to go away and I don't like it at all... Must go home… must prepare Joey's Special Dinner…'_ her mind haemorrhaged thoughts she didn't want to think. Steering her mind to the Special Dinner was the safest refuge to take in this kind of situation, she firmly decided and carried on into the bustling train station.

Glad of the return to warmth, the contrast of warm air on her skin felt luscious, she extracted her return ticket and headed to the platform with a slight smile on her face, but it soon fell at the thought of facing Kaiba again and the looming talk with Joey. How could she face it all without dying of sheer embarrassment?

"Serenity?" a voice distracted her and she was startled by a hand lightly touching her shoulder, making her spin around, her hair smacking into the strangers face, making them too gasp.

"Yaah!" she yelped, the edginess clear on her face as she discovered the stranger to be Tea, who was blinking from the hair attack. Serenity quickly covered up her expression with that of relief and gave Tea a bright, but terribly false, smile that gleamed disturbingly. Tea watched her friend with growing concern.

"Oh, Tea! I thought you could be a…" her mind cursed her for lying to a friend, but quickly thought up a story. The image of Bakura, his pale face and dark eyes at the window was enough to make her believe it could have been him…

"Some crazy guy after me! I'm in heart attack city!" she told her friend almost shrilly and Tea nearly backed away from Serenity's forced laughter that followed. Serenity took in Tea's outfit and worked out that her friend must have been at work, noting this to work into conversation. The fear and lying was sending her into spasmodic bouts of fear and paranoia that was so unnatural of Serenity's usual demeanour. Serenity suddenly felt saddened by the thought she was behaving unnaturally and calmed herself.

'_Tea's a friend, a good friend, who knows nothing about what happened earlier. She'll hear about Joey and be on my side. Calm… get rid of stupid mantra, it's making me edgy,'_ Serenity informed herself and Tea looked into Serenity's brown eyes with her own blue eyes, which still had concern lingering within.

"Are you okay?" Tea ventured tentatively and Serenity calmed herself down, mentally kicking herself for overreacting. She shook her head as if to clear it and took in a deep breath before answering.

"I'm sorry, I'm just… out of sorts. I'm stressed out planning a special dinner for Joey so I can talk to him about the business project without him blowing his top again," Serenity explaining truthfully and Tea patted her arm sympathetically as they walked past the busy rush of businessmen and the growing mass of teenagers, since school was now out, beginning to filter through.

"Yeah, I heard about that. Of all the people in that class, it had to be arrogant Kaiba," Tea sighed, pushing a chunk of her brown hair behind her ear and Serenity absentmindedly nodded in agreement, stepping out into the cold. A small shiver ran alone Serenity's arms, but she paid no heed, almost used to the temperature after trekking around for half the day in it. She was beginning to feel like she hadn't stopped moving since the day had begun, ad now she thought about it, she realised she'd been on her feet for most of the day.

"Thank God the rain let up – I totally forgot to bring an umbrella to work!" Tea complained and Serenity was distracted from her reverie, but took the opportunity of the mentioning of work to bring it up while she calmed herself further. She still felt a little out of sorts and needed some good old fashioned nattering to get back into the swing of things.

'_This day has been the worst ever,'_ Serenity contemplated, her eyebrow briefly furrowing, and then turned to face Tea with a look of interest on her face.

"So how is work?" she asked conversationally and Tea shrugged. Tea worked at a local flower shop and really did love it, but since the weather had been declining to make way for winter, it quickly became a case of working her hardest to stop herself from getting laid off over the other student worker, Anya.

"Autumn and winter bites. I mean, my boss watches Anya and I like a damn hawk to see how hard we're working. It feels like a constant competition and it's really putting a strain on my working relationship with Anya, as well as completely stressing me out. We really used to get along and chat as we worked, but now… we're too scared to say a word in fear of getting fired," Tea explained sadly and Serenity felt a deep sympathy for her friend, patting her arm compassionately as the train pulled up in front of them.

"That's terrible, but can't you find another job? I'm sure there are tons of people looking for someone like you – Tea, you're one of the hardest working people I know!" Serenity exclaimed and Tea felt that familiar warmth she got when people complimented her like that, warming her as they crossed the platform.

"Oh, I sort of know that – I'm honestly trying to be modest here – but I really like my job there and the days I work never overlap with my dance classes. If I get another job, I'm scared they won't be flexible with my hours, or something. I'll hate myself if I stop following my dream just to pick up some cash," Tea elucidated to her friend as the boarded the train and took seats by the window opposite one another. Serenity wished she could think of a solution, but none came and she just gave Tea a pained look.

"I wish I could help you. They have a vacancy at Julie's, but I think they're asking for Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays which I know coincide with a couple of your dance classes. I'm sorry – it would have been so great to work together," Serenity sighed and looked out of the window for a spell. Depressingly, the sun had once more been blanketed by cloud and the rain had returned, but this time in a light spray to Serenity's relief.

Julie's was where Serenity' spent her Thursdays and Saturdays to scrape some money together to help contribute to the rent. It was a nice small clothes shop run by a kindly thirty-something called Julie Pineal who designed the clothes herself. It was quite a popular boutique that Serenity, once there, felt like she could get lost there forever. The idea of running a small popular business of her own appealed to her more and more strongly every time she went back. A brief thought wondered what Kaiba was doing now and what he would think of her idea of running her own shop, instead of planning for corporate world domination and a small giggle escaped her lips at his imagined expression.

"What?" Tea asked, bringing Serenity back to Earth with a bump. Her soft brown eyes darted from the outside world rushing by to Tea's inquisitive expression. The whole time Serenity had been off in her own world, Tea too had been journeying in her own head, wondering what Tristan would do, should she mention the cinema and if he wanted to join her one night.

'_He would probably freak out and hit the roof,'_ she thought glumly and sighed, the depression of the day getting to her. This was quickly forgotten in favour of Serenity's distracting little giggle that had came from nowhere, as if a sudden quirky notion had crossed her friend's mind.

Serenity bit her lip, and then stopped in case it drew attention to what she could be thinking. Tea waited patiently, as if Serenity was still shaking herself out of her little world and Serenity used the time to find something to find funny. She looked about, as if to blame it on something or someone, but there was nothing in sight.

"Um… I was thinking about," she hated herself a thousand times over for lying, "Joey's face when he sees the meal I'm going to make him for his dinner this evening! His eyes may just fall out of his head!"

Lying was beginning to weigh Serenity down and she had only been properly lying, not little white lies compared to full blown lies, for one single day. Still, it felt heavy on her shoulders as if she had been for a lifetime and she cursed herself and Kaiba.

'_This is all Kaiba's fault,'_ Serenity sulked for a moment and then looked to Tea to see if she had been believed. Tea nodded, as it was a reasonable thing to laugh at and then tipped her head to the side.

"What are you going to make him? Something that's going to dehydrate him?" she questioned, her head now resting in the palm of her hand. Serenity became confused, wondering what her friend meant and a hand automatically came to the side of her face, as if she was going to hide from her friend.

"Uh, what?" she replied, looking clearly perplexed and Tea laughed at her friend, making Serenity go red from the attention drawn to her and inch her hand across her face to hide. A few people from nearby seats gave the two disapproving looks, all of which Tea ignored.

"From all the salivating he's going to do when you present your masterpiece meal, of course!" Tea explained, exasperatedly rolling her eyes, and Serenity laughed, seeing the funny side. Any kind of laughter she could find today was a precious commodity and her hand dropped away from her face as she giggled.

"It is going to be the best thing Joey has ever eaten. But enough of that, I mean, I don't want to think about it or I'll start panicking… So, I spoke to Yugi today. He seems really well; the teaching career looks like it's going to work out perfectly for him, Grandpa Moto is doing well from what I can gather and their house is to die for. If I had a place like that…" Serenity lamented and Tea gave a tight smile.

"Yeah, everything always works out for Yugi. Some of us have a harder time," Tea replied with a slightly bitter tone, lowering her hand into her lap, which made Serenity mentally start in surprise. She had never known Tea and Yugi to fight, or fall out, but from the way her friend was talking it sounded like it was the case.

"Is something wrong between you two?" Serenity asked and Tea shook her head, and then shrugged as if she was uncomfortable, which only served to further pique Serenity's interest as the train rattled around a corner, the rain changing its direction of attack on the windows and splashing heavily against the opposite window.

"No – not really. I don't know… it's just when he talks to me, he makes me feel odd. Because he seems to pay such rapt attention to what I say, it makes me feel… uncomfortable. As if he's trying to peer into my soul whenever we speak. Don't you get that when you speak to him?" Tea said, her hands fidgeting in her lap and Serenity shook her head.

"No - not that I noticed, anyway. I spoke to him for what seemed like forever, and he listened to me, but it wasn't any more rapt than usual. He was just being Yugi… he cares too much, that's probably all it is, Tea," Serenity tried to reassure her friend, but Tea didn't seem very convinced.

"Maybe. Look, we're almost at your stop," she changed the subject and Serenity looked outside at the approaching station. Tea lived one stop further than Serenity, in a way better district than Serenity could hope to live in. Serenity had been around Tea's apartment several times since Tea had moved out of her parent's house to become truly independent. Of course, she had a roommate called Elena Billerica – or Elle for short as the really nice girl had told Serenity enthusiastically – who seemed really nice, but Tea never really said very much about. They both took dance classes and probably had tons in common by their demeanours, but Serenity never saw any of this and wondered if perhaps there was something behind it. It made Serenity jump slightly to realise she was becoming paranoid over her own friend; thinking in conspiracies was not Serenity's style at all and she wondered if she was changing because of all the lying and stupid Kaiba's involvement.

'_All his fault,'_ she decided and her head snapped up to Tea's eyes and Tea sighed heavily, as if she had been enveloped in her own cloud of thoughts. The train halted and Serenity couldn't believe it was already time to leave Tea.

"Oh Tea! I'll talk to you tomorrow at lunch, right?" Serenity asked and Tea gave her a warm smile that contrasted to the dull grey train interior and nodded as they hugged. They pulled back and Tea saw that her friend's brown eyes seemed to almost plead for her to answer yes.

"Of course. See you tomorrow, Serenity," the girl replied, her warm smile never wavering, and Serenity sighed and left with a wave, swinging her bag back onto one shoulder. She stepped off the train onto the platform feeling a little melancholy, the weather picking up again now the rain had once more halted and the train left, leaving Serenity waving at nobody in particular; Tea already gone.

>

Kaiba inhaled cold air and he knew immediately that a door to the outside world had been opened. He slowly hauled himself upright to rest against the couch, summoning the strength for his next action.

"MOKUBA!" he hoarsely yelled and closed his eyes while he regained his bearings; his head was spinning and he was beginning to feel sick. He cursed the lack of painkillers in the house and then himself for not getting a glass of water while he had been in the kitchen. What had he been thinking?

"Big brother?" Mokuba ventured as he poked his head around the living room door and then squinted at the bony mass on the sofa, his long hair brushing his shoulder and Kaiba shifted slightly to look critically at his sibling.

"I'm here," Kaiba clarified and Mokuba rushed up to his pale brother with clear concern on his face, his clothes crumpled from lounging about in his classes.

"What happened?" Mokuba asked as he sat next to Kaiba, his eyes riveted on his brother's hazy ones. He helped sit his brother up, who looked the worse for wear and then waited for a reply.

Kaiba thought about it for a bit and fragmented recollections came to him…

Kaiba gripped his head as a wave of pain shot through his temples. Memories of wandering after Mokuba… but the further along Kaiba got, the hazier the memories became, to further his aggravation.

The park came swimming to the front of his mind, vague pooled recollections of not finding Mokuba, but…

"Oh no…" Kaiba groaned and Mokuba watched his brother's face as it creased with a mixture of pain and shame. Mokuba became intrigued and felt himself go into his information pressing mode and proceeded to lean closer to his brother.

"What?" Mokuba pressed and Kaiba shook his head, making the younger Kaiba even more determined to find out what happened to his pallid brother.

"_What_?" he asked more forcefully, expertly adding a touch of whininess into his voice he knew helped make his brother answer, if only to shut him up, and Kaiba sat back against the couch with his eyes closed.

"I went looking for you, but found Serenity instead," Kaiba explained and Mokuba chuckled, shaking his head slightly as if Kaiba was some kind of cheeky schoolboy.

"Did you do something… I would do?" he smiled wickedly and Kaiba's face became blank, the memories escaping him.

"… I don't know. All I remember is finding her and then… waking up here," he recalled and Mokuba looked distinctly disappointed.

"Oh. Shame," the younger Kaiba sighed and Kaiba frowned.

"What are you implying?" Kaiba asked and Mokuba shook his head, satisfied to leave off his brother… for now. Mokuba wasn't sure his brother could stand up to the rigours of Mokuba's extreme pushing of the envelope in the condition he appeared to be in and contented himself instead to aid his sibling.

"Need a glass of water, or something?" he changed the subject and Kaiba gratefully nodded.

"I could use that right now. I feel like hell," Kaiba commented and Mokuba gave him a gentle smile and left in the pursuit of water. Kaiba sighed heavily, realising what this meant. Serenity had witnessed him in a… less than respectable state and now probably thought he was some kind of crazy drunkard. This had to be amended, but how?

Frowning, Kaiba sunk back down on the sofa and closed his eyes, contenting himself for now to wait for water. Deep inside however, the cogs were already turning within Kaiba and he was slowly travelling to a suggestion he had never contemplated for years…

A/N: _Rushing Home_ used to have the next chapters title, but it ended up being so long, I decided once more to divide it up. Of course it is to preserve your eyes and not in my own personal interest of what is known as 'buying time'. I'm getting paranoid that I'm not shoving them together quickly enough – I thought the business project, Mokuba's meddling/goading and Bakura would be enough! Sigh. I already have many of the future chapters in mind, but it's just a case of writing it down and finding the time to write it down. I'm talking too much, you've probably fell asleep already, so I'm going. Oh yeah, once more thanking peeps who reviewed me! Yay reviews!


	9. An Apology and Dinner

**Chapter Nine: An Apology and Dinner**

Serenity shut the apartment door quietly, afraid that Joey might hear, or be disturbed and silently snuck across the living room to her bedroom. Once she was safely inside, she breathed a sigh of relief. For a moment she just stared to the right, out of her medium sized window to see the grey clouds drift overhead. She crossed the room and dumped her little shoulder bag next to her desk before collapsing onto her bed.

After a few minutes of blissful peace and quiet alone, she reluctantly got up and changed into some more comfortable clothes, ones she would need for the task now at hand…

"Pizza… best ever… must make peace with Joey…" Serenity mumbled to herself as she desperately placed the pizza in the oven and set the timer. She hurried to various parts of the kitchen, checking on the homemade ice-cream she had prepared.

The French fries she had carefully prepared so they were nice and thin, just like Joey liked them, were ready to be cooked later when the time came and Serenity cast her eye over the kitchen. Fine, for now.

"Joey better be appreciative," Serenity proclaimed and wondered if Joey would even come back after the fight, making a shiver run down her spine.

'_What if he was so angry he went to Tristan's place, or – or… I can't bear to think about it! Oh, but…'_ she panicked and left the kitchen. She was just about to freak out when she realised she hadn't checked Joey's room.

Quietly, she snuck up to his bedroom door and very carefully opened it before peeking in. To her relief, Joey lay asleep face down on his bed. He mumbled softly and turned over. Serenity could have sworn he had murmured Mai's name and shook her head before gently closing the door and returning to the kitchen.

For the next hour and a half she continued to tirelessly work, preparing dinner and making their tiny dining room table look presentable. And Joey never stirred once. Well, not until the smell of pizza and chip wafted by his bedroom and he awoke to find himself salivating at the scent.

"Mmm!" Joey smacked his lips as he sat up and stretched with a massive yawn. He blinked a few times in his shadowed room and then stood and headed to his door. With a small yawn and rolling his neck so it cracked unappealingly, he opened the door to almost run into Serenity, who had heard him stir.

'_He's like clockwork,'_ she thought with a giggle. Everything was set and the forgiveness, she hoped, would begin. If it didn't, she thought she might break from the strain. Stress wasn't in the least healthy on her delicate frame.

"Joey, you're awake! Are you okay? I prepared your favourite!" she enticed him with the promise of dinner and he perked up considerably. Serenity couldn't ignore the rather unattractive bruise that graced the left side of her brother's jaw, but decided to put this aside in favour of the food. Bruise treatment could probably wait until after dessert.

"Pizza and chips?" Joey asked hopefully and Serenity nodded with a broad, but ever so slightly strained, smile. She ushered him along gently with her small hands pressuring his back so he ambled over to the kitchen, following the smell that was making his stomach growl distinctly.

"Uh-huh. Come on, before it gets cold," Serenity told her brother as she pushed him along and she sat him down at the table, and then hurried off to serve up the food. It looked pretty darn appetising, if she thought so herself. Serenity swiftly cut the pizza up and placed the portions on the plate, ensuring that Joey got the larger amount. He always ate way more than any normal person could consume. The food had turned out really well, and she smiled as she placed it before Joey, who looked ready to gnaw off his own leg.

"Sis… you shouldn't have. Not after the way I behaved," Joey managed to say before he couldn't hold back and stuffed his face with a massive slice of pizza, leaving Serenity to nibble a few chips. They had to talk, Serenity knew, but maybe a conversation over food wasn't such a good idea…

"Joey," she began and Joey kept one eye on her as he demolished his plate, "I understand how you feel, but… you're letting your emotions get the better of you. You should know that it's just a project, not a-a marriage contract or something!" Her voice had become a little strangled at the end as she realised what kind of example she was making and then lowered her head, consigning herself to focus on eating a few more chips.

Joey saw his sister from across the table and realised how sad she looked. And he was the source of it. He paused, the half eaten pizza slice hanging in midair, and opened his mouth. He felt compelled to make her feel better, he knew as her older brother he had to – it was his… duty. Like hers is to do that business project, he grasped and forgiveness flooded his body.

"I know Sis, I jus' didn't wanna believe it. You've gone to all this trouble and I've been an idiot. I'm sorry," he apologised, his eyes sliding from the pizza slice in his hand, begging to be consumed, and Serenity, who looked up. Her eyes were shining again with that cheery sparkle that lit up Joey's life. He felt like he'd made the right decision and though it still pained him to think of the time that rich bastard would be spending with his baby sister, he knew that Serenity wasn't the type to run off with guys. But Kaiba… _that's _who Joey didn't trust in the least.

"Thank you Joey. This means a lot to me – you know that we don't have to fight and not talk about this anymore," she said quietly and Joey nodded and smiled broadly as she began to pick up her appetite and tuck into her single slice of pizza before her.

"That's more like it! But… if I get too out of line over it again – 'cause I might – tell me. Promise?" he asked her and she nodded with a smile. The meal finished on a nice high, Serenity decided as she cleaned the dishes, Joey helping dry up. A small smile crept over her face as he hummed and buffed the dishes up haphazardly. Serenity knew this peace wouldn't last – the Kaiba Incident would probably come at some point, though she desperately that it wouldn't – but she was happy to take it at some kind of temporary forgiveness.

"Oh! The ice-cream! I almost forgot!" she gasped and dashed to the freezer to present the dessert to her brother, who thought he must have died and gone to food heaven.

"Oh man, you can't get any better!" her brother praised and Serenity had wanted to hide as she scooped up the ice-cream into bowls, adding some chocolate sauce to the mix.

She and Joey and spent some time together, watching TV and generally hanging out while pigging out on homemade ice-cream. It was nice to return to that, and Serenity snuggled into the warmth of the sofa, a cushion clutched to her chest. She took a thoughtful spoonful of ice-cream, the bowl resting across the cushion and took a tentative bite, the cold making her wince.

'_Just like the old times… before money issues and college and work,'_ she sighed happily and lost herself in the warm comfortable world she had begun to forget. Serenity remembered when she didn't have her own life to run, or had to get a job. She did like learning at college and working at Julie's, but it could be so _hard_. And now Kaiba was piling more problems onto her, just to make her life easier.

'_Stupid Kaiba. I wish… oh, I don't know what I wish anymore!'_ she huffed, stirring her melted ice-cream viciously and Joey looked at her questioningly, one blond eyebrow raised and his brown eyes twinkling expectantly, while Serenity looked into space.

"Serenity? You okay?" he asked her and she jerked out of her trance, swinging her head to face her brother. Her mind had been in the stratosphere, rather than on the program about some woman on a journey of some kind. She had no idea what was going on, but tried to mask her thoughts anyway.

"Yes, I was just… hoping," she paused to think of what the character's name was, "Jeannie was alright." Her heart nearly gave out at blatant lying to her brother, but he too seemed lost in his own little world and gave a nod, sinking into his own thoughts. To distract herself, she put down the bowl so she didn't have to look at her brother and then sat back to fidget with her hands.

After several minutes of pondering, while Serenity finally tried to watch the TV and work out what had happened, Joey turned back to Serenity and warily opened mouth.

"Uh, Serenity?" he tentatively asked and she gave him a look, wondering in a flash of panic if she'd been caught out, but relaxed when she saw he didn't look angry. Something else, then.

"What do you think of Mai?" he questioned her with a shining interest that transfixed his face. Serenity momentarily gaped, then shut her mouth and obediently thought about Mai Valentine. She didn't know the older woman particularly well. Tea knew her better than she did, and when they went shopping or to the cinema sometimes Mai would come too. And when she did come with them, she seemed nice enough to Serenity, if a bit harsh with her tongue at times. That girl could bite back with the force of an Alsatian, but she also had a good sense of humour that made Serenity giggle.

"Um… Mai's alright. She makes me laugh when we're shopping. And she's very pretty and can be kind if you're down… why do you ask, Joey?" Serenity answered, and she began to become concerned where this apparent interest in Mai had come from.

Joey tried a noncommittal shrug, but his shoulders sagged, unable to keep up any kind of pretence. Serenity watched on in surprise as it all clicked into place and her mouth dropped open as she saw her brother give a chuckle.

"Well, I gotta confession to make. I kinda like the girl. She – well, she's always hangin' around college an' sometimes I think it might be 'cause of me. Sis? What do you think?" Joey admitted and then looked to his sister to see her reaction. He was surprised to find her look shocked, but it melted away to a smile that widened until it looked strained.

"I like Mai. I wouldn't be surprised if she liked you, Joey. But now you're making these kinds of statements and yet you muscle in on me and accuse me of having a r-relationship with Kaiba of all people and… you butt into my business…" she found herself unable to quite articulate how she felt, her fine brows knitted together with anguish while Joey was startled at her speech.

"Oh man, Serenity… I'm sorry. I shouldn't bother you with this stuff, not after what I did today. I really wasn't thinkin', was I?" he muttered, lowering his eyes to his knees, as if he were repenting, and Serenity sighed, calming down and shaking her head with a small smile twisted on her delicate face.

"No, I've… had the worst day. I'm glad you've forgiven me, Joey… really. I just remembered I need to finish off some homework. But seriously, I think Mai likes you. Maybe you should go talk to her," Serenity gave her brother a warm smile and he nodded, giving her a hug. She returned it, glad some things had gone right that day.

Content that Joey had at least forgiven her a little, she retired to her bedroom to do some homework. The day had been both terrible, odd and now a little goodness had been added. At that, she gave a private smile and shut her bedroom door with a soft click.

>

Kaiba rested in bed, having departed some hours ago from the living room with a glass of water in his hand. Now he felt pretty fine considering how bad the pain had been, the headache firmly receded into the recesses of his mind where it merely ached occasionally as a reminder of the day.

He had thought. And the answer that had turned up was not one he had been willing to use, but after going through the options, the only one he was left with was this one. Taking it would mean some… changes in himself, but they were small and probably nothing to worry about, he had decided.

A move had to be made before the day ended, or the window of opportunity could be lost forever. Ever calculating, he had come to the conclusion that his actions wouldn't be as well received if they were what could be perceived as late.

Sighing heavily, as if the world was slowly crushing him, he picked up his mobile phone and dialled Mokuba, who he had sent away some time ago to complete his homework and stop fussing over him.

"_Yeah?"_ came the relaxed reply on the other end, Mokuba reclining back in a chair and smiling, knowing his brother was on the other end. Mokuba had the definite feeling Kaiba was going to come crawling to him with an apology – a rarity indeed, even for family – and the smile danced as Mokuba rubbed his hands together, the phone precariously wedged between his head and neck. Kaiba briefly fidgeted, sensing his brother's smugness, before opening his mouth.

"Mokuba… do you have Serenity's number?" he asked, no trace of nervousness in his voice, but inside… the implications of asking this were innumerable. Kaiba knew that Mokuba would not let something like this slide by. Mokuba's eyebrows raised from his room. So, not an apology, but still a very intriguing proposition his brother was making…

"_I've got her phone number, but why do you want it?"_ Mokuba interestedly replied and Kaiba inwardly sighed, knowing that this was going to be an uphill challenge.

"Because I have some things to talk to her about Business," he lamely replied. Kaiba wished he was better at lying; for Mokuba it rolled off his tongue with ease, and the teenager could pick out a lie with ease, to his brother's annoyance.

"_Sure you do. Well, I suppose I could give it… but if you say something stupid, or hurtful then I'm going to have to kill you, okay?"_ Mokuba replied in a surprisingly steely voice that made Kaiba raise his eyebrows.

"Mokuba… are you threatening me?" he replied in a voice of confused disbelief and Mokuba cleared his throat, sitting forward his chair and rubbed the side of his face tiredly.

"_Yeah, I am. I got that number from her so I could talk to her and she gave it to me, I assume not so I would in turn give it to you but so I could talk to her, right? So it's not fair if she gets berated down the phone by you, because of me… Just don't hurt her, alright?"_ Mokuba poured out his feelings and Kaiba's mouth automatically popped open from the emotional honesty of his brother.

"Alright," he said shortly and, Mokuba satisfied, gave out the number. Kaiba had a good memory and kept it in his head after cutting the call and climbed out of bed, crossed the room to his desk and grabbed a piece of paper and a nearby pen. In his small, incredibly neat handwriting he wrote the number down, programmed it into his phone, and dialled.

>

Serenity had been laboriously pouring over her homework for half an hour, losing track of time with ease as she analysed the work Mr. Bamako had issued them only the other day. Occasionally, she would sneakily start writing notes on the business project about creating a gift shop style business, using various trinkets as a mainstay, knowing full well that Kaiba wouldn't approve.

As she searched for her notepad that had hidden itself somewhere amongst the neat piles on her desk, she thought she could hear something and paused to listen.

After a moment, her memory was jogged and she shook her head with a laugh, realising it was her phone. Grabbing the bag she had carried around for most of the day and rummaging in it, she discovered her buried phone, alight and beeping, and checked the number, expecting it to be Tea, or maybe Yugi.

"Hmm," she looked at the number blankly, without a clue who it was. With a shrug, she accepted the call and carefully put the phone to her ear.

"Hello?" she ventured, wondering who was call at this time of night and the voice on the other end made her blood freeze in complete shock.

"_Serenity, it's Kaiba,"_ he cleared his throat, as if he wanted to somehow break the ice, but Serenity was so far beneath the ice she didn't think she could ever surface.

"Uh," she began, but she was lost for words. The events that had transpired with Kaiba that day had left her mind whirling in a pool confusion and her mouth gaped as she tried to think of something to say without having to bring the Kaiba Incident up.

"Um," she tried again and her face began to quickly grow hot with embarrassment. She floundered for another minute and her mind went into overdrive in an attempt to get her mouth to speak.

'_Say something!'_ her mind desperately yelled, but she remained stock-still, unable to function. Instead, while she recovered, she decided to wait for Kaiba to say something, in the hope she would magically be cured of speech problems in the interim.

"_Serenity…"_ he began, but trailed as if also finding the same difficulties she was having with articulating speech, or just managing to talk at all. However, he appeared to recover far quicker and redoubled his efforts.

"… _I'm sorry, Serenity. For behaving so… ungraciously at Kaiba Land and then turning up at that park, in a less than fit state, for help. I'm glad you helped me…"_ he trailed nervously, wondering if she was going to throw it in his face. He had never apologised to anyone outside of the Kaiba family. It was an unpractised event he had no wish to repeat.

"… I… Thank you, Kaiba," Serenity managed to say, still in some unnameable shock at Kaiba actually relenting and apologising. She heard Kaiba's throat grind strangely on the other end, as if he was internally debating something.

"_You can call me Seto, if you want,"_ he told her flatly to hide the tumult of emotions that surfaced and she was once more rendered speechless. Did he actually just say that? And mean it? After a minute of stunned silence, she gave herself a kick and her mouth opened.

"Thank you, Seto," she smiled to herself, thoroughly pleased, and she had the feeling that Kaiba somehow knew she was smiling, though he couldn't see her and was probably wishing he had never said it.

"_It's alright,"_ he said shortly and cut the call. She shook her head at the last five minutes and put her phone away into her bag with a lingering smile on her face. Seto Kaiba had told her it was okay to call him by his first name. It was some kind of insane honour.

Then all kinds of worries flooded into her mind. Did he just ignore the events that transpired in his mansion, or didn't he remember? Was he that unselfconscious about that kind of stuff? Serenity could barely even entertain the thought without a crimson blush spreading across her face she was so… ashamed, or something similar. Disbelief? She wasn't sure what she was feeling anymore.

Serenity frowned, her mind stirred up and thoroughly disturbed, and decided that she couldn't concentrate on her homework. It could wait until tomorrow. The day getting the best of her, Serenity changed into her pyjamas and climbed into her bed, flicking the lamp off as she pulled the covers over her and firmly shut her eyes.

>

"So, you did it?" Mokuba enquired, his head poking from around the door and Kaiba merely grunted and wandered out of his room, swiftly pursued by his intrusive brother.

Mokuba seemed to be getting more of a pain as he got older, constantly prying into Kaiba's life, at least that's how Kaiba saw it, and annoying him whenever he could with whatever he could get out of Kaiba on a daily basis. The knowledge of Serenity and the business project was proving the worse ammo Mokuba had against Kaiba yet.

"I called someone, yes," Kaiba divulged irritably and Mokuba smirked, knowing exactly who it was. An apology. Mokuba never thought he would see the day Kaiba apologised to someone outside of the family. It was like a miracle, or something to Mokuba and it brought a smile he kept toying with as he followed his brother, who was heading to the kitchen. Eavesdropping, he thought with his chin tipped up proudly, had its benefits.

Kaiba opened the kitchen door and opened the refrigerator, grabbing a bottle of beer and seated himself at the breakfast bar, before looking at his brother expectantly, chestnut eyebrows raised slightly.

"Make yourself useful and get me a bottle opener if you're going to hang around me like this all night," Kaiba sulked and Mokuba felt in an antagonistic mood. He did what he was told, taking the bottle opener from a nearby draw and civilly handing it over to his sibling, but straddled a bar stool and readied his line of attack to gain knowledge of the relationship his brother had with Serenity.

"There's a weird chemistry between you two," Mokuba suggested thoughtfully and Kaiba glowered in order to feebly attempt to ward off one of Mokuba's tactless trails of thoughts he liked to be so vocal about when the mood took him. Sometimes Kaiba truly wondered where his brother got this from because no-one Kaiba had ever taken note to remember in Mokuba's life had ever encouraged the boy to express his thoughts to others and annoy them. They would have been fired, surely…

"Like a bomb," Kaiba said sourly to Mokuba with a dangerous expression on his face, but Mokuba discarded his brother's expression with ease. Kaiba refused to meet his brother's eyes and focused on the bottle he was intermittently sipping from, if only to soften the blow of Mokuba's probing. A part of Kaiba scolded him for apparently not learning his lesson from the event's of earlier that day, which Kaiba chose to ignore.

"You two are totally crazy around one another!" Mokuba continued on with relish, using his hands emphatically, while his brother's face slowly reddened. From Mokuba's judgment, it was more from embarrassment than anger and so happily carried on antagonising him, until he confessed.

"We are not!" Kaiba snapped, his eyes perceptibly darkening and then calmed himself so he could continue his argument coherently without looking pathetic in front of his brother. Mokuba waited with an expectant look on his face for Kaiba to explain himself, confess or go into denial mode, shutting himself down emotionally.

"Serenity and I are… explosive, conflictive at best," Kaiba said with exasperation of his brothers relentless talking that never failed to cut close to the bone and dig under Kaiba's skin to how things really were with him. He hated how his brother could do this so expertly and mercilessly. Kaiba guessed some of him and Gozaburo rubbed off on the younger boy.

Mokuba looked incredibly crafty and he opened his mouth, making Kaiba pause in his thoughts, dread washing over him. He could practically see the ace twirling in Mokuba's hands as his brother flashed him a grin that could cut glass it was so sharp. Kaiba scowled and eyed his brother with suspicion.

"Then why did you get Serenity's number from me, ring her and _apologise_?" he asked smugly and Kaiba knew he was in a tight corner. He had little options left.

"Just leave me alone!" Kaiba lashed out to try and get Mokuba off his case, but the boy persisted, leaning forward so he was now by Kaiba's head.

"Come on, tell me!" he whined in the most pathetic voice he could muster and Kaiba lowered his head, so his cool eyes were obscured.

"I… felt indebted after my behaviour at Kaiba Land," Kaiba eventually said lamely and Mokuba scoffed loudly, firmly shaking his head in dissent. The boy leaned away from his brother, but kept his eyes firmly on his unmoving sibling, which narrowed as the argument rolled off his tongue.

"Hah, you've never felt indebted to anyone, Seto… living that is," he replied, an edge of annoyance touching his voice and Kaiba's eyes narrowed, obscured by his hair. An indecipherable expression flashed across the younger Kaiba's face as he viewed his silent brother, just wishing inside that Kaiba would dredge some of those feelings buried deep within him and just _talk _to him. The expression faded along with the regretful thoughts, and Mokuba focused on waiting for Kaiba to say something.

"What do you mean by that?" he challenged, finally looking up, and a smile twisted onto Mokuba's lips as he stood from his kitchen stool. Mokuba really had grown up, Kaiba realised with a small start. The boy was nearly as tall as him, but tended to dress what Kaiba liked to think of as like a homeless person, his rumpled clothing of jeans and a shirt with a few missing buttons near the top making Kaiba want to sadly shake his head.

"You know what I mean," was all Mokuba retorted, his blue-grey eyes hardening as they locked with his brothers and then fell away. With those parting words, he breezed coldly past Kaiba out of the room, leaving Kaiba to think, all the while staring into the bottle he held in one hand.

AN: So he apologised. Wonder what Serenity is going to make of it? Well, you're gonna have to wait until the next instalment. I think I may bring Mokuba a little more into the picture – I like the way he is here, all trying to push his brother and Serenity together, but there's also that question of how Mokuba himself views Serenity. Does he like her as Kaiba is/will be finding himself liking her? Ooh, the questions! I can't wait… I mean, I know exactly how this thing is gonna pan out. Trust me, I'm an unreliable layabout! Thanks for the reviewing – one high quality review is worth at least a couple dozen 'OMG! Ned mor soon!' type reviews. Not to offend nobody, but I like it when people actually comment on what took place and how they saw it. Different perspectives rock. Lotsa luv, Cat Alex out.


	10. Conversation Over Lunch

AN: Well, I never thought I'd do this, but I will talk about some of the wonderful reviews I got from you wonderful people out there. I'm just full of wonder that I'm considered a decent writer shakes head, but I'm the kind of person who doesn't hold her skills in high regard. Anyway!

PinkStarz: You know, when I wrote that, I thought "yeah, work that angle," but then promptly forgot about it until you brought it up. Thanks for reminding me, it's definitely going to come up in the future.

RoseGoddess874: Thank you for the support; I did check out your fics and I might have reviewed one… I kind of forget. But much appreciated!

nkitty29: I love that name! And I'm very grateful for your reviews. Of course Kaiba can feel sorry! It was partly tactics though – if you have a business partner, you gotta keep her sweet, or she might be embarrassing in public, or something!

Walis: No worries, I can announce that Mokuba won't be involved in a triangle. This is strictly SxS, but Mokuba makes many an appearance, mainly in the role of giving up and pushing the two together. Plus, I just like him appearing because I love his character. Got more interacting in the near future between the two, so no worries of them tearing their clothes off snigger. Thank you for your constructive words of wisdom!

B.E.W.DWarriorPrincess: Wow, compliments like that make me want to run and hide with embarrassment! PinkStarz and Walis and so many more are WAY better than I am! Truly! Mokuba will still be around, but not in a love interest capacity. Serenity sees him like a brother, definitely. To quote Rin from FFX - thank you for your patronage!

And now, I present…

**Chapter Ten: A Conversation over Lunch**

Serenity had awoke the next day with a small sleepy smile plastered on her face, which when she traced the root of it, immediately stopped. She sat up in shock and then looked to the phone, blinking as the morning sun peeked through roughly drawn curtains.

"He apologised to me…" she trailed, her mind going into overdrive at the prospect of Seto Kaiba, domineering corporation owner – and generally all around meany, in Serenity's opinion – had said sorry to her. Her, Serenity Wheeler, Kaiba's enemy's sister. Said. Sorry. To her.

The magnitude of the event made her pause for a moment.

Serenity started giggling, but it quickly turned to full blown laughter. She rolled around her bed, hardly able to breathe from the memory of him nervously apologising to her. She knew she really shouldn't, but she honestly couldn't help herself. She halted when another part of the memory came to the surface.

"Seto, hmm?" she mused aloud, savouring the name. Serenity felt like Kaiba allowing her to use his first name was possibly some attempt on his part for compensation for behaving like a total fool in front of her, but didn't care. This was one step further in actually working together _properly_ on their business project. Serenity had to keep her mind on the business project.

"Yeah… business…" she murmured as she slid out of bed. With a small yawn, she padded over to the dresser and squinted at her bed head.

With a soft sigh she left for the bathroom, Joey never getting up early enough to grab the bathroom first. Serenity gave a small giggle as she heard snores from behind his bedroom door. She never got tired of his morning routine of falling out of bed at the last minute and rushing through getting washed, dressed and grabbing breakfast before falling out of the front door to get to either work or school.

'_Silly boy,'_ Serenity shook her head and shut the bathroom door. She took a quick shower, wanting to hurry to college in the hope of not having to talk to anybody. Today, she felt like being by herself, but knew at lunch she was going to have to talk to her friends. If not, they might get worried about her and start to pry and then… and then everything might come tumbling out and cause all kinds of problems.

It shouldn't be considered, she decided and smoothly left the bathroom and got dressed in a simple pair of jeans adorned with some pink decorative stitching near the top and a pink jumper. She wasn't going to make the same mistake of freezing herself in bad weather again, oh no. She put on some simple pink jewelled studs before shoving all the school things she needed into her satchel and went in search of breakfast. However, she did feel a bit sorry for Joey and rapped on his door, causing him to groan and give a muffled reply that sounded a bit like, "Mime hummin'!" leaving Serenity to shrug and go to make some toast.

After filling her stomach sufficiently, she realised she should start heading to college if she wanted to get there a little early. You never really knew what could happen to hold you up on the way there, so Serenity always thought it was better to arrive early than to end up late.

Joey was a different story. A banging noise followed by some groaning signified her brother's first attempt at getting up, which usually resulted in him slumped on the sofa. A giggle escaped her and her mind briefly wondered what Kaiba was like in the morning compared to her brother. Probably a little more handsome than Joey's dishevelled mess…

'_He is handsome…'_ she thought and then gave a start at what had popped into her head. Her brown eyes widened and her face flushed at the mere thought of considering Kaiba attractive. Her heart pounded from behind her ribs as she placed her hands on her face to cool her warm cheeks.

'_Am I crazy!'_ she berated herself, calming herself before she did something stupid. Hurriedly, she threw her plate in the sink and rushed into her bedroom to pick her satchel up before heading into the living room to find her brother indeed sprawled across the sofa. Her mind seared with her earlier thoughts and she left the flat without a word, only pausing to grab a snug navy jacket.

The wind was gentle and the sky showed only a few strands of light grey clouds drifting along. Serenity hoped today would be better than the last several days. She needed a break from the constant mental trauma she seemed to be suffering since Kaiba had been forced to work with her. Still her mind wondered whether she was really enjoying the experience or not. Serenity had a horrible feeling that she liked some of it.

Serenity ground her teeth at that and forced herself to concentrate on her surroundings; humble buildings that made up the shabby area she lived in interspersed with a rundown park, or some decent shrubbery.

Soon her feet had taken her all the way from where she lived across a few busy roads and along the school run road where cars were crammed along a street in an attempt to get their kids dropped off as close to their school as possible. Serenity though she saw a jet black limo pull up and a dark haired boy exit into the high school, but the crowd of students and vehicles obscured her view from across the street and she gave up in favour of following her own path.

When she arrived, she couldn't see any of the usual gang about and so trailed her way into college, occasionally checking in case Tea or somebody was walking down a corridor. Eventually she made it down to the business corridor and realised she was slowing down, unwilling to go into her own class.

'_I am a few minutes early… Maybe it's Mr. Bamako. If he asks me how the two of us are progressing…'_ she wrinkled her nose and gently shook her head. There would be nothing to say. They needed to make progress, but every time they sat down together, everything fell apart!

With a small frown she turned her head from a wall display and looked to the business class door to see some students file in. So should she really, but if she had to talk to Mr. Bamako about the project…

Her feet leadenly dragged along the floor as she made her way to the door. Just as she reached for the handle, someone approached the door and took the handle themselves. Her eyes widened, her mind so weighed down by her swirling thoughts she hadn't even noticed them. She looked up and brown eyes met cool blue. Of all the people…

"Hello… Seto," she tried out his name, unused it in her mouth. It sounded odd calling him by his first name and she worried he would get angry despite giving her permission. Nothing showed on his face, his eyes unreadable and face akin to stone and he gave her a nod and entered the class.

'_Well I suppose that went alright,'_ she decided and with a small private smile, she followed him. Only a few people were missing and were probably not far from arriving; Mr. Bamako didn't like latecomers. Kaiba took his usual seat near the back while Serenity shuffled ahead and sat herself down. Mr. Bamako didn't look either happy or angry, but the mixed expression he was giving to people put Serenity on edge and she found herself unable to meet his eyes.

A few more students slipped in as the buzzer hailed the beginning of class and Mr. Bamako shuffled a few papers on his desk in a listless manner while the last students took their seats. Serenity felt uncomfortable and had a nasty feeling today was going to be another of a series of bad days.

As if he heard her, Mr. Bamako shifted his eyes to her and gave her a slight nod which she hastily returned, her eyes wide. She knew the expression she wore was clearly worried, but she couldn't seem to mask it; Kaiba must have been some kind of expert to remain so unmoved all the time. Well, except when he got angry – he never minded displaying his anger.

"Today we're going to be working in pairs as we look at a few business situations I've prepared. So pair up!" Mr. Bamako commanded from the front of the class and Serenity's heart leapt before she warily looked around. She hadn't really made any friends in the business class; everyone had seemed really intent on learning and not particularly interested in talking to anyone. Business students were a little more competitive than Serenity could ever hope to be.

Kaiba sat looking blankly at Mr. Bamako, his cold eyes not daring to wander to his business partner, sitting on her own looking rather lost as the students got up and began pairing off.

Kaiba's eyes noted when Serenity nervously stood and to his surprise she turned to make her way to him while the other students threaded around the class to their chosen partners. Kaiba suddenly felt uncomfortable that Serenity would choose him out of the whole business class, but then relaxed slightly with the comforting thought that it was probably just because he was the only person she had even spoken to. Still, he still felt strange, but he remained facially unmoved as she took slightly faltering steps toward him, unsure whether he would accept her or not. It was an indelible peculiarity he couldn't name as she strolled over, one he wasn't sure he wanted to explore further.

Before she reached him though, Mr. Bamako gruffly called her name and her brown eyes widened, locking briefly with Kaiba's until she faced Mr. Bamako. Mr. Bamako gave a small smile while Kaiba scowled, wondering what the man was planning.

"I think you two have had enough of each other and should take a little break for this lesson. Serenity you can go with… Mr. Nichol, if you don't mind," Mr. Bamako directed, his eyes sweeping to a young man sitting next to a girl with short blonde hair. Serenity's eyebrows furrowed with apprehension, but she shuffled over to him.

"And Miss Fisher, if you would join Mr. Kaiba." Mr. Bamako said firmly and the girl gave a huffy sigh and a roll of her grey eyes before getting up and skulking her way to Kaiba, who in turn glared.

Kaiba glanced at Serenity one last time before focusing his attention on the work at hand and ignoring the girl whose name he didn't even know. He tried to stop himself grinding his teeth, but he swore he could see Mr. Bamako watch him with an amused expression which made his blood boil.

People would pay.

* * *

Vaughn Nichol was an average height boy of Serenity's age with tousled brown hair that made Serenity want to ruffle it herself. His hazel eyes twinkled welcomingly, his lips twitching into a crooked smile. He was quite handsome, in Serenity's opinion, which didn't help her nerves at all.

She clumsily sat down and found herself face to face with this boy. She flashed a small smile to try and be courteous, but found herself unable to talk. She had to introduce herself before he thought she was thoroughly weird.

"Hi, I'm Serenity Wheeler," she managed in a near whisper. She could feel her face heating up and wished she was somewhere else. Anywhere else.

"Vaughn Nichol. Nice to meet you, Serenity. Well, I guess we should look at these situations," he replied with a crooked smile and Serenity felt a little more comfortable in his presence. He seemed such a nice guy; she realised with a slight jolt that all the time she had spent with Kaiba had likely made her this way.

'_Damn you, Kaiba!'_ she hissed and tentatively returned Vaughn's smile before the two of them focused on their work. Serenity was careful not to hold eye contact. She was being ridiculous, she decided. Kaiba had just starved her of normal human interaction and now it just seemed odd to be talking to others. With that thought in her mind, she busied herself solving the situations, carefully forgetting about Kaiba.

* * *

At the end of the lesson, Serenity said a hurried, shy goodbye before getting up and leaving Vaughn. He managed a wave before she practically ran away, heading to Kaiba's desk. The blonde haired girl had also made a suspiciously hasty disappearance.

"Seto, I was wondering if we could meet tonight to continue with the project," she began, but Kaiba ignored her despite her standing a mere few feet from him. He stood, picked up his stout suitcase and left, allowing the door to shut in her face when she attempted to follow.

Serenity became annoyed. Was he being childish? With that thought hovering in her mind, she hauled the door open and rushed after him. Kaiba was swiftly departing, his navy trench coat swirling from its wearer's stiff movement. She knew something was wrong, his shoulders hunching slightly, almost defensively.

With a grimace, Serenity ran after him, her shorter legs barely matching his large strides. Before he managed to turn the corner, she dashed in front of him and he nearly bowled her over. Kaiba grudgingly halted in front of her, a mere hairs breadth away. Serenity gaped, surprised that she wasn't shying away and Kaiba glared down at her. Though he was mad at her, the greedy part of Kaiba that was used to getting his way and the possessiveness tied up with the greed was pleased she had come after him.

He wasn't sure if he should get that feeling of 'mine mine mine' over a human being, especially a girl like Serenity Wheeler. He noticed that she had shut her mouth and schooled her face into an expression of barely contained anger.

"Hey! I was talking to you, you know!" she frowned, her lips pressing together to stop her screaming and turning the whole conversation into a rant at him. Her arms unconsciously crossed as she dared to look up at his face.

He narrowed his eyes, his gaze boring into her chocolate coloured eyes. Unconsciously, they inched closer, but Kaiba stopped himself, his mind hell-bent on making her suffer for ignoring him in favour of Mr. Nichol.

"Noted," he said, his voice coming out huskily. On that note, he straightened and strolled off around the corner, leaving Serenity to blink a few times. Then she saw red and went to run after him only to find he had disappeared.

With a heavy sigh she rubbed her face, the anger draining, wondering what the hell had just happened before gently shaking her head.

A few students jostled past her, but she didn't react. Serenity took in a sharp breath before heading to the cafeteria, hoping her friends would be about. She had not spent enough time around them lately. Kaiba was probably rubbing off onto her or something equally disturbing to her mind.

"Ugh," she wrinkled her nose as she pushed the double doors of the cafeteria open to reveal a mass of students bustling about. She had changed her mind from not wanting to talk to her friends, to desperately wanting their company. They seemed so much more normal than her entire business class. Serenity looked about, spying a flash of blond much like her brother's and smiled, spotting the gang around their usual table. They all seemed to be deep in conversation and she wondered what it could be about.

With a shrug she moved towards the cafeteria area and went to grab some food before she fell over from exhaustion.

Today clearly wasn't her day.

* * *

"I hate him," Joey growled, his fair eyebrows knitted together with the conflict their owner was in. He moaned and buried his head in his arms, but kept a hand holding the slice of cold pizza tightly clamped shut. Food, after all, was food and couldn't come under the threat of potentially begin stolen.

"… Part of me wishes I'd jus' said no and been an ass, but when I saw her face light up… hell, I had to give in, didn't I?" Joey lamented and Tristan patted his back.

"Hey, if anything happens, you can count on me to smash his face in without her ever having to connect it to you. Right?" Tristan looked about the table hopefully. Yugi shrugged helplessly, barely able to bench-press his own weight while Tea scowled. She wished Tristan would take his mind of Serenity for two seconds. Then, perhaps she could get a word in…

"Uh, Tristan, isn't that a little extreme? Kaiba hasn't actually done anything wrong so far, has he? It's only a business project." Yugi interjected tentatively and Tristan slouched back into his chair, giving his head a slight shake. Joey meanwhile had lifted his head up and stuffed the slice of pizza morosely into his mouth. It was comforting.

"Ah, don't worry Tris – I'm sure Seren would tell me if Kaiba so much as laid a finger on her," Joey said and sat up, the pizza bolstering him.

"Yeah, course she would. My little sis would let him get away with it!" he exclaimed and happily began tucking into the remainder of his lunch. Yugi eyed Joey with some interest. His friend had a knack of picking his mood up and Yugi was proud of him dealing so well with this new truce he had to take with Kaiba. Yugi decided that as long as Kaiba kept to his corner, Joey would be alright. It looked like they may end up counting on Serenity to do that… and speaking of her…

"Joey, Serenity's coming this way with her lunch," Yugi informed his friend, who immediately sat up straighter with a daft grin on his face. Yugi turned his head to the right only to see Tea. He had been trying to pretend he wasn't sitting next to the girl he liked, but it got a lot harder when you were staring right into those blue eyes of hers.

She faced him, feeling his eyes on her and felt her skin crawl. He was staring again and it made her want to squirm. He looked so… lovelorn when he stared like that and it freaked her out. A sliver of pity forced its way into her mind though; she couldn't help feeling sorry that she couldn't return those feelings.

Yugi hurriedly looked away and realised he hadn't touched his food. He had to say something, anything.

'_Talk about Bakura's return, but don't mention Serenity!'_ Yami-Yugi hissed from a corner of Yugi's mind. With a sigh, he lifted his head and felt it tilt slightly with nerves.

"Guys, I heard that Bakura is back in town," he said lightly in an attempt to make some conversation. Joey grunted, still eating and Tristan looked mildly interested.

"Really? Maybe we should go see him," he said offhandedly. The gang were quite wary of Bakura after the several Millennium Ring incidents they had endured. Still, a friend was a friend.

As Serenity approached, the whole group ceased to talk and began to eat. Some things were better left unsaid.

* * *

Serenity, armed with her lunch, cautiously approached the table. She didn't like the deathly silence that had fell as she had come closer and found her eyes unable to look at her friends and brother. All of them seemed intently centred on their food, too much so.

'_What were they talking about?'_ she idly wondered and took a seat near Joey. Conversation dragged and Serenity settled into concentrating on her food. Were they already suspicious of her, though she had done nothing wrong?

Everyone slowly relaxed though and conversation picked up, cheering Serenity up. Her mind was running away with her again. She even managed to laugh a few times, though the events of business had left her feeling peculiar. That Vaughn boy had been far too kind to her and still she ran after Kaiba who had been his usual self – a cold pain in the ass. What did it mean for her? Perhaps he had driven her over the edge and she was truly going mad?

'_Best not to reflect,'_ her mind answered and she felt little comfort from the notion.

The rest of her lunch tasted of cardboard and she found herself wondering if she could corner Kaiba later. But since business was over now, chances are he went straight home to study instead of Serenity's ritual of using the college library to study. It could be the perfect opportunity to make some progress on the stupid project alone, uninterrupted by that complete -

"Miss Wheeler?" the voice of Mr. Bamako came from behind her and Serenity found herself jumping to attention and nearly spilling her lunch everywhere in the process.

"Yes?" she vainly tried to cover up her stupidity, but instead ended up blushing as she moved away from her friends to Mr. Bamako. He looked concerned, most likely because she acted like a madwoman.

"I was wondering if you could come by after lunch before the next class starts and give me a quick update on how you're doing with the project," he sounded strained, as if her behaviour didn't exactly indicate things were going well. Serenity forced a bright smile on her face and nodded, not trusting herself to speak further.

With a similar nod, Mr. Bamako departed and Serenity collapsed back into her chair where the rest of the gang looked on with interest.

"You sure looked uncomfortable, sis. You okay?" Joey questioned and Serenity managed a tight smile in return.

"Sure. I just wish I had more to present to him. I, uh, didn't really bring any of the project with me," she replied with a shift of her shoulders.

'_If we actually _had_ any of the damn project,'_ her mind accused and she resisted the urge to frown or pout. She wouldn't lie, but perhaps she could… twist the truth a little. But that sounded almost… conniving. And Serenity didn't have a conniving bone in her body, not one she knew about, or had ever used. With a twist in her mouth of distaste, Serenity finished her lunch, occasionally participating in the sparse conversation and left after giving her brother a hug.

Shifting her satchel nervously from shoulder to shoulder, Serenity reluctantly returned to the business class. Another class would be in there soon and she didn't want to intrude, so it was probably best to face Mr. Bamako before the end of lunch. Alone.

Serenity found herself nervously licking her lips. She hated confrontation of any kind. They put her on edge. Still her footsteps carried her forward and when she reached the door to the class she only hesitated for a moment before she curtly knocked on the door.

"Come in." Mr. Bamako answered and she entered, closing the door and walking timidly past the empty chairs to Mr. Bamako's desk, which was habitually littered with various stacks of paper.

"Mr. Bamako, I, uh…" she began, but with a gentle wave of his hand, silenced her and rested his eyes tiredly on her.

"No need to say anything. I can guess only a little progress has been made. I think my best two students are still getting to grips with having to work with one another?" he suggested with a wry smile and Serenity sighed and gave a mournful nod.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Bamako, I really try, but Kaiba is so… _difficult_." Her hands turned to fists at that as her mind flashed to the various occasions where Kaiba had been difficult. Too many moments came to mind, so many she couldn't bring a single time where he _hadn't_ been difficult with her.

Serenity briefly closed her eyes and found herself feeling responsible for their lack of progress. Maybe if she just let him have his way…

"Serenity, it's alright. I expected this to happen, but still… I think it could produce some interesting results. The board would be happy even if you came up with less than your best. You're both gifted students," he told her sincerely and Serenity couldn't believe anyone would call her gifted. She had always felt kind of… plain.

"I… thank you." Serenity found herself lost for words. She never liked to acknowledge that she was anything beyond normal. With a shift of her legs, she turned to go.

"Thanks, sir. I'll do my best," she finished and left the class with a small wave.

With a heavy sigh, unhappy with her conversation, she headed to the library in the hope she could make a little headway on the project herself.

Anything to take her mind off the day.

AN: Well, I once more found that all that I planned for this chapter wouldn't fit, so the second half of this will come to the viewing public in the form of _Walking Fine Lines_, where Serenity and Kaiba once more have to work on that damn project, but find themselves… well, I'll leave that part there. Apart from there's gonna be a cliff-hanger of sorts. There's a sneak peak for you guys to thank you once more for the reviews. Thanks everyone! Cat Alex


	11. Walking Fine Lines

AN: Once more I have decided to talk to my reviewers, because… well, I like replying to people kind enough to review me. Plus, there aren't exactly tons of you (ah, no matter - you can't have everything). So, anyway, let's jam!

Didihoney: Yet another name I love the sound of. Just keep saying it to yourself and it sounds so cool. I apologise for ruthlessly hinting action that is to take place in this chapter. I am a bad person, but I hope you will be made happy reading this chapter and pray you won't be disappointed. Thank you for integrating humour into your review because it amused me and others, I'm sure. Thanks!

Kaibasquallsgirl: Whoa… people tell lots of other people about this story… oh man, when I read that my face went red and my brother (Asmodean on here – he's a Wheel of Time fanficcer) was asking me if I was alright. I wasn't mortified, just… shocked that people liked my story that much. That was very cool and I thank you for such raising this story's profile. Oh, and I think of it as a sign of good writing when you can tamper with people's emotions, so to hear that you were scared after the Bakura pointing made me proud, but also I hope you were okay. So… thank you!

B.E.W.DWarriorPrincess: The compliments… I can't take them… That reminds me, a lot of people have been mentioning Mokuba and his character in this, and it makes me happy that he gets a good response. He's a keeper. Maybe when (if I ever) finish this, he'll get a story of his own. What I'd write about him, I have no idea. It appears I am only capable of romance, except in my Johnny Theremin story shrug. The lack of grammar and/or spelling mistakes is because my brother acts as my beta. The first few chapters were riddled with mistakes, but I get better as I go along, for some reason, and need him less and less.

Walis: Ah, life… to have one… Mostly kidding. I love the word nincompoop. I love the 'I was talking to you,' 'Noted' exchange. Makes me laugh. It's funny, when I read back on stuff; it looks like a total strangers work. I can't remember what I was thinking for half the stuff and it sounds smart compared to me. Oddness! I'm so glad people are enjoying this!

thefutureMrs.Kaiba: Well, let's hope your first name is Serenity! J/K! Thanks for the compliments! I'm so glad another has found me! Although I haven't reviewed you (yet), I definitely was aware of your Yu-Gi-Oh stories – coz they rock!

I like talking too much. Anyway, now I present to you…

**Chapter Eleven: Walking Fine Lines**

As soon as Joey heard the buzzer signifying the end of classes for the day, he already had shoved everything into his bag and was halfway to the door. Classes sucked, but Joey knew he had to take them if he ever wanted to get anywhere in life. Still, he didn't have to enjoy them.

People were filtering out of the classrooms, but Joey was already ahead of them and nearing the door to the blessed outside world. He had spoken to a certain someone shortly before lunch had ended and arranged to walk them home. A rather special someone.

He almost hit a few students as he violently swung his bag over a broad shoulder and practically dashed towards the exit. Once through the double doors of the college, he tumbled down the stone stairs into the lazy sunshine, but then abruptly halted on the last step. Sitting on the last stone step was a very familiar shapely figure.

She stood, tossing her long wavy blonde hair over her shoulder and staring shrewdly at him with those violet eyes of hers. Mai Valentine, the girl Joey was determined to impress. Which he failed to. Often.

Still, it hadn't begun that way; it had been sniping irritably at one another during duelling tournaments and exchanging biting comments between one another (by one another, Joey actually meant her directing them all at him). And now they were here in this strange, almost awkward situation. Since he started college and contact between the two begun to fade, she had turned up and began haunting the college. He spoke to her and she actually held conversations with him, if short at times.

Shorter than he liked, Joey had realised. And so she had hooked him with ease and left Joey floundering after her. But now he would brave the potential wrath of Mai Valentine and ask her outright: Did she want to go out sometime?

Joey gulped and realised that they had been walking away from the college for some minutes in nervous silence. His brown eyes flicked to hers before quickly turning back to the street they were walking, as if he was doing something wrong.

'_Hell, knowin' Mai, I probably _was_ doin' somethin' wrong in her mind,' _Joey thought to himself, roughly scrubbing his thatch of blond hair and promptly felt like a fool. Mai wouldn't ever want to go out with him, surely?

"So." Mai began, her graceful steps beside Joey making him want to grab her and pull her to him. He decided it probably wasn't the best idea, making it one of a few sensible thoughts he had had that day. Mai could see his half concealed expression of being torn and a small smile curled her lips. She liked her men confused so she could push them in any direction she wanted.

"Well, uh, Mai…" Joey fumbled for something to say, but found there was nothing he could say to her without either feeling foolish or being a fool for saying something so pointless. He felt tormented beside her, unable to decide whether he wanted to walk her home or run away and find safety in pizza and TV. With Mai gently fluttering her long lashes in front of him, he wished he had a remote control in his hand. She was way too much for him to handle.

"Yes?" she said sweetly, but he knew that poison could very well be underneath. Mai Valentine was someone who couldn't be messed with and he wished he wasn't infatuated with her. But her pert lips, and her sunburst hair and her violet eyes, the exact amethyst within a sunset…

He unconsciously licked his lips and pushed those sappy thoughts away. He needed to just for once actually _think_ before opening his mouth. Maybe she would be nice and let him take her out on a date and they could be a couple.

"Mai… I like you. I mean, I like you a lot and… I was jus' wonderin' if you might wanna go out sometime. With, uh, me I mean," he struggled, but once he had said it he felt a little less nauseous. In his heart he knew that if she said yes his heart would soar and that elation would carry away any burden that had been weighted upon him over the years. Maybe even the burden that was Kaiba and his unwanted involvement in Serenity's life.

"Well, since you seem to be so…" she batted her eyelashes again and found her smile widening, "nervous, I guess you really do mean what you say. I don't mind if we go out somewhere in the near future."

Joey felt his heart become a feather carried on the wind and grinned at her, a little foolishly, but Joey knew he couldn't maintain a sweaty, nervous demeanour forever, and then gave a laugh of relief.

She said yes! To him!

"Thank you, Mai. You won't regret it," he said, still grinning and Mai linked arms with him. He dropped her off at her home and when he was certain he couldn't see or hear her, gave a yell of exuberant delight and dashed to the flat with the air of a cheeky boy who successfully carried out his prank on a teacher uncaught.

He was Joey after all.

* * *

Serenity looked up at the clock across from her corner spot in the library. Home time. Perhaps she could catch Joey on the way home, or Yugi. Maybe Tea and Tristan, but Tea usually stayed a little late after dance classes and Serenity didn't like to walk home alone with Tristan – he took too great an interest in her that left her feeling a little weird.

She stood and carefully packed her thing away, allowing time for some of the crowd of students to disperse before venturing out by herself. She wished she could have caught up with Joey, but knowing him he probably had dashed out as soon as there was even a hint of being able to leave.

With a soft sigh, she left the library and quietly slipped out of the college. Only a few students remained, so she was glad to not be jostled.

She needed to make amends with Kaiba. She had no idea what she had possibly done wrong to earn his indifference, but she would aright it, somehow. Perhaps he just up and decided not to talk to her for no reason whatsoever, but a part of Serenity reasoned that he wasn't the sort of man to do things for no reason. There was some kind of twisted motive in Kaiba's mind; it was just a case of unlocking it from his business addled mind.

'_He works too hard. Maybe he finally pushed himself over the edge?'_ she toyed with the thought, but brushed it off and continued out of the college and down the street to where the high school sat, packed with cars all trying to escape the road and go home.

One vehicle caught her eye, though. A black limo gliding along, apparently unaffected by the traffic. She carried on walking, but had her suspicions as to who was in the limo. It was a surprise to her when it pulled up alongside her. Surely Kaiba was still mad at her for whatever crazy reason he had decided upon?

"Hey, Serenity! Hop in!" Mokuba called from the open window and a smile automatically broke out on Serenity's face. She could have kissed Mokuba. He could help with her problems with his brother and maybe she could finally give Mr. Bamako a chance to relax and not end up having a heart attack.

She clambered into the limo in a very unladylike manner, but didn't care at all how Mokuba saw her. With a relieved sigh she sat down to face the teenager, who was grinning at her pleasantly.

"Thank you, Mokuba! I need to speak to you about Kaiba," Serenity began and she noticed his grin fade slightly. Perhaps he wasn't in his brother's good book either!

"Sure," the dark haired boy replied smoothly and relaxed in his seat, "Shoot and I'll see what can be done."

Mokuba was so confident, Serenity realised. Unusually confident for a teenager, but she supposed the huge amounts of money he commanded amended that. Serenity herself had been a rather awkward, uncomfortable teenager who had no confidence in herself. Reuniting with Joey had been a turning point that led her to become the person she was today. He built her up as much as he could; introducing friends and just hanging out with her helped her so much. She knew she wasn't as confident as most people today, but still it was better than she had been, and she was eternally glad for it. That's how she stood up to Kaiba, or else she would have been in floods of tears.

Shaking her head from the myriad of thoughts and memories invading her brain, she focused on what to tell Mokuba. She had no idea, really.

"Kaiba… I mean, Seto… he just stopped speaking to me properly when I asked him about meeting up again to work on the business project. After our business lesson…" Serenity frowned as she recounted the exchange between herself and Kaiba. What had she possibly done to make him be uncooperative?

Mokuba frowned slightly and thought for a few minutes in silence. Serenity fidgeted nervously, wondering what the boy could possibly extract from what she had given him. His hands moved smoothly, palm on palm to slim fingers tracing never-ending patterns on his palms until they slowed to a halt and his raised his blue-grey eyes to hers.

"He may just be being an ass, but… I have a feeling it was something else. He usually gets annoying like that for a reason. That particular kind of behaviour I only usually see in him when he's jealous," Mokuba explained and Serenity became confused.

"Jealous…? But… maybe it was because we had to work with different partner that lesson. He worked with this girl, and I worked with a boy called Vaughn. What of it?" Serenity asked and Mokuba shrugged.

"Seto can be a little odd. Maybe what he thought he saw was far less than you thought it was. You must know by now that Seto can be weird," Mokuba replied and Serenity found herself absently nodding as the limo ground to a halt.

The two exited at the Kaiba mansion and Mokuba slapped his forehead and swore, before turning to Serenity.

"Oh, man, I totally forgot to drop you off! Sorry, I'll take you home right now," he apologised and Serenity waved him away and smiled.

"No need. I'll walk it, no problem," she told him firmly, but Mokuba wouldn't hear of it, his hand taking hers and stopping her. He was taller by several inches and she knew she couldn't escape him no more than she could escape Kaiba.

"Wait, you need to sort things out with my brother, right? Why don't you come in and you can ask him yourself, or at least force him to work with you?" Mokuba reasoned sweetly, knowing Serenity wouldn't be able to resist.

Serenity sighed and gave a small nod and the two approached the main doors to the Kaiba mansion. Mokuba had let go of her hand now, leaving the feeling of warmth that made a small smile grace Serenity's lips.

"I'm not sure if he's back yet or not; he may have gone to Kaiba Corp to handle business there. You might as well come and have a drink while we wait around for Seto to arrive. Knowing him, he'll be there all night," Mokuba informed Serenity as they crossed the threshold of the mansion and the boy began to trail along an elaborate corridor to the Kaiba's most favoured kitchen.

"I hope you don't mind me hanging around," Serenity worried aloud, but Mokuba waved away her comment dismissively as they reached the familiar door with the porthole that led to the Kaiba's surprisingly cosy kitchen, considering the size of many of the other rooms within the mansion.

"Of course not! You're good company," he said with a boyish grin and opened the door so she could enter first. Serenity stepped through the door with a grateful smile and seated herself on one of the red breakfast bar stools. Mokuba opened the industrial sized fridge and turned his head to Serenity, who peered interestedly at him from her seat.

"What do you want?" he asked and Serenity shrugged, unwilling to ask for too much. She hated making people go too out of their way for her.

"Just a glass of water will be more than fine, Mokuba. Seriously, maybe I should come back when Ka-Seto gets ba-" she went to finished her sentence, but the far off sound of a slammed door made her shut her mouth and her eyes go wide. It had to be Kaiba. An obviously less than happy Kaiba.

"Don't listen to him. I'll get you that water," Mokuba effortlessly ignored his brother's arrival and extracted a bottle of water, probably from some far off country shipped directly to the Kaiba's fridge.

Serenity nervously took it from him and opened it, taking several large gulps from it before Mokuba could even get her a glass. He resignedly sat beside her as she nervously swung her feet and the two waited for Kaiba to make his arrival.

Within a minute, the kitchen door opened and Kaiba strolled in looking as if he had eaten rocks, his dark blue eyes stormy and his expression was as unreadable as ever. Serenity realised she was tense as a spring at his appearance, the knuckles on her left hand whitening from gripping the bottle and she quickly forced herself to relax.

Mokuba stood and strode over to his brother in an attempt to ward off any questions about Serenity and catch Kaiba's attention.

"Brother! You're home and you look… a little ticked off. Serenity here wanted to maybe talk to you and start working on that project," Mokuba said with a hint of warning in his voice. Serenity felt touched that Mokuba was trying to stop Serenity taking any brunt of Kaiba's possibly broiling anger under that cold exterior.

Kaiba merely sighed and took a chair next to Serenity, much to Mokuba and Serenity's surprise. Serenity felt a little uncomfortable being so close to Kaiba, especially when she wasn't sure what was going on in the man's head. He didn't appear to bear her any kind of grudge that she could see, which put her on edge.

"… Kaiba Corp is running fine, so I came home," Kaiba said slowly, his eyes occasionally sliding to Serenity, making her unconsciously joggle her feet. He sounded surprisingly calm considering she expected him to be incandescent with silent fury for something she had little knowledge of committing. Jealousy. Mokuba had to be wrong.

"I, uh, was hoping we could work. If you're not tired or something," Serenity fumbled with her words and took another gulp of water. He looked a little worn out, now she came to look at him. For a moment, their eyes met and Serenity felt trapped, his intense gaze pinning her. They slid away and Kaiba turned his attention onto Mokuba, who watched his brother and Serenity in a shrewd manner, as if weighing the two of them up.

"I better go do some homework or something," Mokuba decided aloud and Kaiba shrugged, straightening out his shoulders.

"It would be best, I think. Serenity and I shall go to my home office. It may help us work," Kaiba finally said and Mokuba gave Serenity a smile and a wave before slipping out of the room, leaving the two alone.

Serenity stood in an effort to put some space between herself and Kaiba. Over this time, Serenity felt herself become a little angry at Kaiba's odd behaviour. One minute he won't talk to her, the next he's acting as if nothing happened earlier during the day. This wouldn't stand.

"Hey!" she managed her first words to him since lunchtime, "Why wouldn't you arrange a meeting earlier and acted like a lunatic!" Serenity found herself frowning and gripping the water bottle tighter than ever.

Kaiba ran a hand tiredly through his hair and stood, motioning for her to follow as he exited the kitchen and patiently waited for her in the corridor. Serenity was unsure what to do, uncertain what it meant when Kaiba was so calm in the face of confrontation. She was used to him getting just as angry and confrontational back when she had shouted at him in the past.

Sighing, she followed.

He silently led her down unfamiliar corridors she hadn't encountered before, though one corridor in the Kaiba mansion was much the same as another. Eventually he stopped at a door much the same as the other doors lining the corridor and entered. Serenity thought they were pretty deep within the mansion and the feeling of being trapped briefly swelled within her before fading as the room interior caught her interest. It was nothing like the rest of the mansion, Serenity marvelled as she entered.

White, steel and sharp edges were predominant. The carpet was white as were the walls and the room appeared so bright that Serenity almost squinted from the intensity. Computer equipment was sprawled over a worktop opposite the door that ran along one side of the wall. To Serenity's right sat a large steel desk behind which was a massive window flooding light into the room. The desk chair was also large and resplendent – high backed, white material covering it. So much white, though the man seemed less than pure. Perhaps he just liked a… clean feel to a room, Serenity did not know. The messy computer equipment disagreed with her notion.

A three piece suite sat in the middle of the room, also white, and Kaiba had spread himself out on the sofa, his arms across the top. Serenity had no wish to stay too close to the man, so she sat primly on a single squashy chair. Kaiba had his eyes closed for a moment, but they opened again and focused on her.

"I wasn't in the best of moods earlier. So let's forget it," he told her with a firmness that suggested her to just try and get him to apologise. Serenity knew Kaiba handed out apologies like he gave money to random strangers, so she let it slide and was just glad he was willing to still work with her. She began to feel a little more comfortable and a small smile flitted across her lips.

"Okay. I was thinking about coming up with ideas for what we could market," she replied and Kaiba shrugged, seemingly happy to just rest. He did look tired.

"Or we could just sit around," Serenity gently chided him and Kaiba straightened, his eyes open and alert. The tiredness appeared to vanish from his face, probably under a mask of his devising. Sometimes Serenity believed Kaiba to be more mask than man from the amount of himself he showed to anyone.

"I'm not tired," he said, a slight frown creasing his face. He leaned forward from sofa to show he was awake and didn't need to sit down. From his shirt, a card on a necklace fell out and Serenity's eyes were immediately drawn to it. Kaiba didn't seem the sort to wear jewellery, so it immediately caught her interest.

"What is that?" Serenity asked and pointed to the half-hidden part of a card hanging on a chain around Kaiba's neck. Kaiba became self conscious of Serenity and her prying. His hand automatically went to hide the card in his shirt and Serenity felt slightly disheartened by Kaiba's unwillingness to open up.

"Come on, Seto – tell me what that is and I'll tell you something about me," she offered and Kaiba frowned.

"I don't want to know anything about you," he said dismissively, leaning back into the chair again, and Serenity felt a pang of pain from his insensitive comment.

"Ouch," she murmured and Kaiba continued to frown.

"What?" he asked stoically, tiring of her questions, and Serenity gave him a pained look.

"You have no concept of others feelings, do you?" she said deprecatingly and Kaiba shrugged, stretching his arms out before folding them across his chest.

"Don't know, don't care – there's hardly a difference," he wryly smiled, his azure eyes watching her intently, and Serenity internally squirmed at his remark.

"Sometimes you make me feel sick," she told him honestly, deciding that perhaps he'd learn from it being done to him.

Kaiba's cool eyes narrowed and he further relaxed back into his chair, her tactics seen through with ease.

"That doesn't really work, you know. Why would I care? After six months we'll never have to talk again," Kaiba languidly told her. Serenity became a little upset at his uncaring attitude, but kept her face as unemotional as possible. It soon cracked.

"Just tell me," she whined and Kaiba rolled his eyes. She sounded exactly like Mokuba when he whined and it made him briefly grit his teeth.

"It's a key-card that, together with Mokuba's key-card, will open the door to the room where the Kaiba Corporation ownership contract is held. We hide it inside card-shaped lockets so they're kept close and are at less risk of being stolen. Though if mine goes missing now, you're first on the list to get your apartment ransacked," Kaiba explained and Serenity gave a small chuckle which soon disappeared when she realised that Kaiba was pretty serious, his face stony.

Kaiba grinned and began to laugh when he saw her face, his trick working perfectly. Serenity huffed and then joined in the laughter. She had never heard him laugh like that; almost carefree, but with some kind of restraint, as if he thought it would be impolite if he laughed his face off at her. Serenity could feel herself becoming more and more intrigued with Kaiba, wondering what he hid and what he displayed was real. A part of Serenity felt like Kaiba was secretly challenging her to a special, private duel, where he wanted her to find out who was the real him. If it were true and not just something Serenity decided she had just imagined, she would have been happy to play it until the very end. Perhaps in the end, she would.

Yes, he was a mystery to her, waiting to be worked out, conceivably even _wanting_ to be worked out. Serenity sighed, pushing those kinds of thoughts aside, and began to go through the possible ideas for what they could use as a mainstay product for their business. The memory of looking at those decorative trinkets came to mind and she delicately opened her mouth, a little afraid to make the suggestion.

"Um… Seto, I was thinking about buying up these little trinket things for the business project. People would buy them because they're nice little things to buy as presents and things. You know… uh, decorative. Pretty," she stumbled over her little speech, internally squirming. She knew he was going to hate the mere idea of it.

Hesitantly, she raised her head to look at him and noticed that Kaiba's expression was rather blank as he appeared to turn over the suggestion in his mind. However, it soon mutated into a grimace, which then became a leer, making Serenity shiver at the sight.

'_It was a stupid thing to say… but he's hardly come up with better ideas!'_

"Trinkets?" Kaiba interrupted her thoughts, "You think ornaments are going to make money?" Kaiba sneered and Serenity looked hurt, her dark eyes drifting to the floor, creased with hurt.

'_He didn't have to be _that _mean about it,'_ she sulked, pouting and turning her head away to look at the wall with disinterest. She could feel the initial sting of his comment fade, but it was quickly replaced with a flare of resentful anger.

Kaiba rolled his eyes, hating it when girls behaved like that when their ideas got put down. In his mind, it was a stupid idea, so why bother playing along?

'_And now look at her, waiting for me to apologise and roll with the idea… thinking I hand out apologies like I fire people. Hmph. Well she can sit there and wait all night, but I'm not apologising,'_ he adamantly thought, eyeing her pretend to ignore him when he could see her dark eyes slide to the side to see what he was doing. He folded his arms and sat back, comfortable in the knowledge he was going to win this small battle. He liked winning.

Serenity remained where she was, peeking when she thought he didn't see and was disappointed to find he was refusing to pay attention to her, staring levelly ahead at nothing in particular. His icy eyes were vacant, but also bore the hint of some surreptitious thoughts he wouldn't share with anyone. She gave a huffy sigh, hoping to sway him a little, but he ignored her, not moving a muscle. There was no indication that he'd even heard.

She faced him and still he ignored her, infuriating her.

"Hey!" she snapped and he slid his cool eyes out of his thoughts to her.

"You sound like the mutt. Can't you use other words apart from 'hey'?" he calmly responded and her eyes gleamed dangerously. He knew perfectly well how antagonised she was by comments like that and wasn't in the least surprised when Serenity's face began to redden in anger.

"Take – that – back," she growled threateningly through gritted teeth and Kaiba barely contained his laughter, feeling hardly threatened by someone as puny and weak as her.

He shrugged in a non-committed manner and smoothly moved toward her, causing her to lean back a little fearfully. His lips curled into a smile at her reaction and he leaned as close as he dared to her, his face barely an inch from hers. Her wide eyes almost took up his entire vision. He could feel her quickened breaths brush his skin and wondered what she was feeling. Scared, or something else?

"What are you going to do about it?" he whispered more teasingly than threateningly. What he didn't count on was for her to jerk forward before he could pull away and press her lips to his. His mind reeled. Had she gone mad? Was this a ploy to embarrass him? Because if it was, it was working. His face flushed slightly as her eyes closed, but quickly his mind began to come up with visions he hadn't even remembered. The touch of her lips brought back some desperately unwanted memories. Kaiba couldn't believe his own mind as the recollection of what happened after they had reached the mansion. What the hell had he done – been thinking – anything!

"Hell!" He stumbled back with that cry, making Serenity's eyes pop open fearfully. Her own face was stark with fear and she quickly averted her eyes from him, instead lowering them to the floor. Her hands began to restlessly fidget while Kaiba took a shaky breath and sat down on the chair furthest away from her. He had done… that to her yesterday?

He couldn't think. Why had she done that? Because of what he had done yesterday in his less than competent state? Did… did she think what he had done yesterday _meant_ something despite his clearly incompetent state?

'_I need to say something to her – need to explain that I didn't know…'_ his mind floundered desperately. There was no time for niceties, only short hard facts.

"I didn't know about yesterday until just now," he said dully and Serenity cursed herself for a fool. Of course he didn't remember, he was so dosed it was amazing he remembered anything from then.

Why had she kissed him? She had been quite scared when he had advanced toward her, but as he had inched his face close to hers, an idea had struck her. What better way to anger him than a kiss? But once initiated, it had turned out quite differently. She hadn't expected to enjoy it, more squirm and have him pull away. But neither had done anything much, except remain in the position. He had remembered and she had… contemplated what she felt.

'_And I didn't come to the best conclusions,'_ she thought morbidly, too upset to even get angry enough to curse herself again.

Things like this weren't supposed to happen to Serenity Wheeler, but she always found they did, mainly when she really, _really_ didn't want them to. It wasn't fair. Of all the people to find herself liking, it had to be Seto Kaiba. A man who some believed could pass for a glacier he was so cold towards his fellow humans. Businesses ran from him in fear of being taken over, babies most likely cried in his presence… All in all, it hadn't been a good idea to allow herself become involved with Kaiba to any degree.

Business sucked.

"Yeah, I noticed," she finally replied, her voice barely cutting the tense silence between them. She tried to calm her breathing, but found she couldn't. She felt trapped and desperately wished to leave, or sink into the ground. Anything but this.

"Why did you kiss me?" he quietly demanded, his eyes on his knees. So, he couldn't look at her either. He wanted to throw her out, but the thought of not getting the answers he wanted firmly held him back.

Serenity didn't know what to say. She couldn't possibly explain to him how her mind worked – more than likely he would laugh in her face. Admittedly, when she took a brief glance of him, he didn't look particularly like he was going to laugh anytime soon. This wasn't the best of signs either.

"Uh…" she fumbled for something, _anything_ to get her out of the room as fast as humanly possible, "I was… trying to make you mad."

Serenity decided it was best to leave it there. She wasn't technically lying.

Kaiba didn't want to look at her, his eyes were now looking from his knees to anywhere _but_ her. Serenity knew she had to escape and fast. Her mind raced for any excuse to leave, but nothing was being produced. She needed to leave, now!

She found herself on her feet, her eyes flitting worriedly to the door. She had to leave.

"I need to check in with Joey. It's getting late," she cobbled together a reason to leave. Kaiba nodded and stood to show her out.

"No, no – I can find my way out fine," she gabbled and headed for the door.

"But what about Bakura?" Kaiba asked, but she was already gone. He would have followed her, but he recognised the discomfort she had displayed and let her go. It truly would have been cruel to draw it out any further, and the tiredness he had efficiently hidden away ravaged his face. He felt exhausted now she had departed in such a fluster.

However, what she had done and her explanation of it was another matter entirely, now he replayed the events in his head. His face darkened slightly.

He hadn't believed a word of her reasoning. Tomorrow she would pay for lying to him so blatantly like that. A small nasty grin flitted across his lips and was gone.

* * *

AN: Uh, the cliff-hanger was meant to go here, but, uh, well I kinda screwed up my chronology and had to… rearrange stuff. It wasn't pretty. So, I'm sorry about that, truly. But the cliff-hanger will come, friends! That I can promise. Probably in chapter thirteen, _Explosive Conflict_, which just got formed. Chapter thirteen _was_ going to be _Waking Up To Reality_ but the chronology thing intervened. A sneak preview? Ooookay, deep breath. It's called _Divergence_ as of a moment ago as I write this AN. It did go through several names, each of which bore only marginal associations with what actually took place within the chapter. Twelve is where things fall apart in one way or another, in my opinion. That's all I can think to say, except more express gratitude to the reviewers – you guys really spur me on. I take my leave at that wonderful time of 1.51 am charming grin Cat Alex 


	12. Divergence

AN: Apologies for it being a month and a day since my last update. I waited a month to give myself a chance to finish the next chapter, which is nearing finished. Sorry!

* * *

And first, my dear reviewers:

Didihoney: Thanks, but this chapter is going to have a pretty major cliff-hanger if I do say so myself… Heh heh, pants caught on fire, but it had to be done. It's _probably _for the greater good overall. I mean, she likes him so she just has to do something about it. Well, _he_ has to do something about it, because she's too shy to do something _too_ forward. Step in, chapter twelve!

essence of light: I know what you mean. I used to be a person who didn't like to review. I was really awkward about what to say, but I'm in the swing of it now. Thank you for the compliments, it can be a little disheartening to see that for all the words I've written, the reviews don't really balance it out. But I'm okay – you guys are the best!

PinkStarz: Muahahah… revengeance! (Personal word o' mine) Perhaps he doesn't opt for the smartest revenge, but whatever hurts – right?

B.E.W.DWarriorPrincess: Yeah, I like to keep things emotional. Thanks for the confidence boost – I always get paranoid I could be going wrong somewhere when writing out the next chapter.

thefutureMrs.Kaiba: Thanks – indeed, if I do say so myself. For the all words I wrote and strain I endured (eleven had been particularly difficult because of all the interchanging of viewpoints and plot I needed to cram in), I hope people thought 'awesome'. It makes an author proud.

Kaibasquallsgirl (now with a 07): Why the 07? I'm intrigued. I'm sure it wasn't there before! Interesting little poem and don't apologise for the review – hyperactive reviewers are always welcome! He didn't kiss her back because… well, shock, confusion, rejection… all kinds of reasons, but mostly… he has no clue. Because he's a boy and boys are clueless. That, and he's repressing anything he even suspects to be an emotion if he can help it. Which, by his behaviour, he isn't managing so well.

**Chapter Twelve: Divergence**

Last night had been the worst disaster ever, Serenity decided. After last night, Serenity had little time to listen to Joey, but did her best to appear interested as the two headed to college. It was the night after the calamity that had occurred, the one Serenity refused to even name.

The siblings walked down the street in a manner that left younger kids laughing at them, not that Joey noticed. Serenity's gait was quick and she had her hand firmly clamped around her brother's arm as she half dragged him toward the college.

Serenity knew class was going to start without her if she didn't hurry Joey along, but he was so happy, his face alight as he told her all about how great Mai was and how he felt like he was going to spend the rest of his life with her. Serenity had a slightly creased eyebrow at that notion – she wasn't sure how Mai would feel about that, but still, her brother could be surprisingly persuasive.

She stifled a sigh of relief as the college came into view. She practically pushed a dreamy Joey across the road toward the surrounding grass that made up the grounds of the college where their friends waited. Yugi had a small smile on his face as he saw Joey's preoccupied expression and Serenity could hear Tea give an 'aww' as she too caught sight of Joey. Tristan smirked when the two siblings finally made it to their gathering.

"Looks like Joey has a new hobby – drooling over Mai," the tall boy chuckled and Tea playfully hit his arm, not noticing as Yugi watched with intense interest before turning his eyes away.

"Drooling was already one of his hobbies – he just has someone to direct it at, instead of food," Tea teased Joey, who didn't seem to be really paying attention, or care. Serenity sighed and shook her head at the sight of her brother. He had quickly turned into a lovesick puppy and it made Serenity hope she never behaved like that ever.

"Come on," Serenity began hustling Joey towards Yugi, "let's get to class before we're late!"

Yugi took hold of one of Joey's arms and began guiding him inside, but paused to look past Serenity and his eyes darkening to indigo narrowed slightly.

"What is it?" Serenity asked, without noticing the older boy's expression. She turned and saw the familiar limo draw up and the door open. Serenity began to get a mixture of that sinking feeling in her stomach and a flaring of desperate emotion, clawing to escape the multimillionaire's presence, and fast.

She spun back to face Yugi, who watched Serenity with interest and she shook her head. Yugi looked confused, then realised he had Joey with him and began tugging the blond haired boy towards the college's main entrance before an altercation could break out, promise or no.

"No need to rush away, little gang," Kaiba's deep voice was filled with cool amusement and Serenity witnessed Joey's back freeze at the sound. She had spoken to him, he should be fine despite his shoulders noticeably tensing. Hopefully.

Slowly, Joey turned to face the brown haired boy, his eyes clear and alert. His eyes locked with Serenity's pleading ones for several moments and he relaxed to Serenity's relief.

"Got class, Kaiba. Don't wanna be late," Joey grunted and with a careless wave, left. Serenity felt a swell of pride at Joey's clear attempt to follow what he had promised. Yugi did not follow instantly, stuck between walking with Joey or Serenity. He wasn't sure who needed his presence more. His violet eyes on Serenity's, he saw her give a slight shake to her head and he reluctantly nodded before hurrying after Joey.

Before Serenity could do anything, she felt two hands take her waist. She went to squirm, unused to the feeling of anyone touching her like that, but she was turned around and briefly released before the hands moved to securely grip her shoulders. Unsurprisingly it was Kaiba. He looked down into her eyes that were slowly filling with fear. His own had a wicked gleam. Tea and Tristan were still standing nearby, apparently waiting for another college friend. She could hear them cease their playful conversation. She accurately guessed it was because of what appeared to be transpiring between Kaiba and herself.

"What are you doing?" she hissed, her eyes glowering. He ignored her expression and felt his mind fill with satisfaction. Vengeance would be sweet.

"I am doing what you tried to do to me yesterday. I'm making you mad," he smiled and promptly leaned down, kissing her calmly. He wasn't sure what drove him to take it any further than a simple chaste kiss – perhaps it was the desire to create a more believable illusion for Tristan and Tea to get angry over, or some unchecked feeling within. He didn't care at that point though and soon his arms were acting alone, slipping off her shoulders and wrapping snugly around her waist while he found his lips teasing hers apart. Somewhere in the back of his mind he registered her hands come to rest on his chest. A part of him thought she was accepting it and quite enjoyed that idea, but after a few more long moments they pushed hard and they broke apart.

He unconsciously licked his lips and came back to reality to find Serenity scarlet faced and beginning to yell at him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!" she screamed and their eyes locked for an instant – hers blazing with a definite hint of embarrassment while his appeared to gaze back almost warily.

Taking a few shaky breaths, Serenity fled into the college, leaving Tea and Tristan to deal with the situation. Tristan still had some feelings for Serenity, but they had faded over time as he spent more and more of his time with Tea. Now however, they seemed to flare out of control and he found himself charging at the taller man. He flung a wild fist at Kaiba, who was still in a minor daze, and his fist connected with the older man's jaw. Kaiba grunted in pain from the blow and felt himself being tackled to the floor by the dark eyed fool. Punches rained down on him, but Kaiba didn't really care, his mind analysing how well his strategy had worked. Sufficient vengeance on her lying to him appeared to have been achieved, but a part of him irked him. It hadn't particularly liked seeing Serenity get angry and upset like that. Perhaps he shouldn't have pushed further, but he wasn't sure he had been thinking straight when that had happened. The kiss shouldn't have progressed.

With a hiss, Kaiba hauled Tristan off him, giving him an iron fisted punch to his gut and standing. With a growl he realised his suitcase had been left behind in his limo and he scowled. What could have made him forget a thing like that? Kaiba stalked into the building, leaving Tea to tend to Tristan, who was curled on the ground and whining in a way reminiscent to Joey's nickname. A part of Tea was mad her new boyfriend had reacted to violently to Kaiba's possession of Serenity – a clear indication in her mind that he still had feelings for her friend, but still who wouldn't defend their best friend's sister?

Kaiba _had_ been a bastard, Tea decided, and Tristan had probably done the right thing, if stupidly chivalrous. What right did he have kissing her like that?

* * *

'_What right did he have to kiss me like that!'_ Serenity ranted, her mind whirling restlessly about in her head. How embarrassing! How could he have _done_ that!

She had shut herself in a bathroom stall in an attempt to hide. The only good she could find was that Joey hadn't seen. If Joey had… no amount of reminding him he was supposed to keep his cool would have worked. Unstoppable grand scale destruction would have ensued for sure.

She closed the toilet lid and sat down, burying her face in her hands, but resolutely held back tears. She would not cry because of Kaiba, the bastard.

'_He had no right to do that!'_ she mentally ranted. Serenity found herself balling her hands tights and wanting to lash out. Experimentally, she punched the wall and recoiled, nursing her hand. That hurt more than people let on.

A small sniff escaped, along with the hint of a whimper. She would not cry! She… she wouldn't!

With a shuddery breath, she unsteadily stood and began to contemplate attending Business. A trace of a sob made Serenity hastily cover her face.

'_If I get it all out first…'_ she grudgingly admitted and allowed herself to cry. _Then_ perhaps she could get her own retribution, if what Mokuba had told her was accurate…

* * *

Kaiba wasn't surprised when he arrived to Mr. Bamako's lesson to find Serenity not there. He realised how upset he'd made her, but he allowed those thought's to slide away. He didn't want to think about that now when work would have to be done. Over analysis was a problem of his at times. It was all well and good in the business world, but it could fail when it came to people. The lack of understanding when it came to emotions frustrated him.

He took his seat, his hand feeling oddly empty without his suitcase in his hand. Sometimes his mind contemplated reasons why he would forget such an important thing in his life. The thing had everything – all his necessary papers for both work and school, it had storage compartment for his laptop and the object could be wielded as a deadly weapon when required… Kaiba found himself mechanically massaging his temples and avoiding eye contact with Mr. Bamako. The man irritated him for so many reasons, not just because he forced himself and Serenity to work on the project. The man was too used to speaking his mind and commanding others for Kaiba's liking. Sometimes it was almost as if Mr. Bamako didn't care that Kaiba was the CEO of Kaiba Corp.

Mr. Bamako began the lesson, going over the answers from last lesson and preparing them for more paired work for the lesson. Kaiba internally groaned at the idea of more paired work. His partner had been sulky and annoying, more so than Serenity. Speaking of Serenity, Kaiba was sure that Mr. Bamako kept glancing at the empty desk where she was meant to be with concern. The man needn't have concerned himself, because the door opened and a rather tremulous looking Serenity came in, her eyes with slightly red rims. Kaiba felt a stabbing of guilt, but quickly suppressed it. It was all her fault and he would not apologise, no matter if she begged and pleaded on her knees.

She was five minutes late, but Mr. Bamako never said a word, to Kaiba's annoyance. He hated it when teachers administered special allowances for some students over others. She took her seat and listened as Mr. Bamako went over what they were doing, repeating a few things for Serenity's benefit in Kaiba's opinion. Kaiba kept looking at Serenity to see her eyes remain firmly fixed on either Mr. Bamako or the displays around the walls.

"Now get back into your partnerships I set up last time," Mr. Bamako commanded and the class began to shift, picking up pens, paper and bags. Through the hustle, Kaiba watched Serenity get up. She didn't even look at him and Kaiba watched as she almost tripped over herself to get to Vaughn. Kaiba felt a slight twitch in his jaw and he quietly growled, stilling it.

The blonde girl grudgingly came back over and slumped in her chair with a frown. Last time he had pretty much ignored her and worked alone, and planned to do the same.

It was going to be another long lesson. They had always seemed excruciatingly long since Serenity had come into his life.

* * *

Serenity hated using Vaughn to her own ends, but she was desperate to make Kaiba pay. She had once thought she didn't have a conniving bone in her body, or that she had never used it. Today was going to have to be a different matter. She simply couldn't take Kaiba's behaviour anymore.

'_Who does he think he is!'_ Her mild demeanour was swept away with another bout of anger, but melted away as she continued working with Vaughn.

She spent the first fifteen minutes in a stony silence, but slowly melted and found her voice. Anyway, she felt bad keeping silent when Vaughn clearly wanted to talk. Conversation picked up and the two happily conversed about their work and various other things that cropped up while working through the set problems.

"So, uh… you got anyone special in your life?" Vaughn shyly asked some time into the lesson and Serenity felt her face heat up. Her hands automatically came up to rest on her cheeks, but she quickly halted and put them in her lap.

Her mind had frozen. Special people? Who counted as someone special in your life? Serenity was perfectly well aware what Vaughn was getting at, but… she wasn't sure what to say.

"I… Not really," she falteringly replied and wondered what had made her pause. Before she could speculate further, the buzzer went off signalling the end of lessons and Mr. Bamako gave them a few sheets of questions to complete for homework. People began filing out and Serenity turned to look at Kaiba, the fire of her hate fading.

Kaiba stared at her with icy unreadable eyes that bore into hers. She felt something on her shoulder and her head jerked around to see Vaughn glaring at Kaiba and his arm around her shoulders. Part of her was surprised that he would be so bold, but another part liked the fact that this evened up the score with Kaiba. His expression…

Kaiba's face openly glowered at Vaughn, but intensified further when his eyes rested on Serenity. He then curled his lip in disgust and left, his trench coat swirling angrily. She watched him depart and wasn't sure whether to follow and try to talk or not. She wanted to hit him, apologise, see if he was okay… She wasn't sure what she wanted from him anymore.

Vaughn let her go and shuffled nervously in front of her, his eyes flicking around the room, but never really looking at her.

"You okay, Vaughn?" she asked, tilting her head slightly to one side. Her mind was still distracted by Kaiba's abrupt and clearly irritated departure. Vaughn finally met her eyes and relaxed slightly.

"Serenity, I was wondering if you wanted to go out sometime," Vaughn asked with a gentle smile, his eyes glimmering invitingly. Serenity found herself feeling as if she was trapped. She couldn't think of what to say and noticed her mouth had drifted open. She swiftly shut it and instead frowned in confusion.

To her horror, she found herself thinking of Kaiba. As much as she liked Vaughn and his gentle charms, her mind kept recalling the strange and usually embarrassing or painful memories she'd spent with Kaiba. The convention at Kaiba Land, Bakura at the mansion…

"I- I'm sorry, but… I-" she said breathlessly and wanted to take off in the hopes of catching up to Kaiba, but remained stock still. Why did they have to end up fighting? She still smarted after this morning, but Mr. Bamako was relying on her to pull the project together. And she discovered herself wanting to learn more about Kaiba, to truly know him and not just what he let her see. Before she entertained the idea that he was challenging her to a private duel that he was hoping somehow she would work him out. That there was more under the surface and she was the girl to find it all. And underneath it all… she knew she might find herself.

'_To learn about others was to learn about yourself,'_ she mused and a myriad of thoughts flew through her head.

'_He is handsome… Kaiba is so… _difficult_…_ _Of all the people I find myself liking, it had to be Seto Kaiba…_ _Kaiba looking down at her clinging to him and smiling a little when Bakura had scared her… Kaiba appearing beside her at the business convention and surprisingly linking arms with her…'_ Serenity clasped her hands together, her brown eyes widening in shocking realisation. The clarity of her thoughts and words made her insides squirm.

"I… really like him…" she softly choked out and quivered.

"You want to?" Vaughn asked, his smile widening and Serenity violently shook her head. She noticed that everyone had left the room and suddenly she felt incredibly alone. Even Mr. Bamako had gone, but that saved her considerable embarrassment.

"No! I mean… I'm sorry, but I… I'm not interested. Sorry." Serenity told him, her eyes wide with fear at his reaction. She hadn't meant to snap 'no' at him like that, but it just slipped out that way. She was scared of upsetting Vaughn and saw his smile soften and slip slightly.

"No problem. I understand," he said, his eyes filled with apologetic understanding. Serenity nodded and hurried away, unable to bear watching the hurt she caused Vaughn any longer.

By the time she had exited the class though, Kaiba was long gone. Despite knowing this, she still tried the cafeteria and main entrance just in case, but he wasn't there.

'_He must have drove,'_ she thought miserably. She felt like she always needed to talk when no-one was around. A sigh escaped her and she sat herself on a nearby bench. The weather was nice and sunny with a gentle breeze to make the temperature just right. Serenity relaxed for five minutes before making her way home. Tonight she needed to think things through and maybe try talking to Kaiba, whether he wanted to talk or not. Maybe they would even finally sort things out between them – whatever the hell was between them.

"Next to nothing," she said under her breath and unhappily left the grounds. All that ever seemed to happen to her was upsetting, embarrassing or incensing things.

'_Well, no more! I won't take it anymore! Joey was right - we are too good for Kaiba! Ever since I've worked with him my life has been turned around and it's not fair. I'll call tonight and maybe it'll be sorted out. Joey, I'm sorry, you were right; Kaiba is trouble…'_

Her heart felt like it was sinking. Should she tell him how she felt? Would he freak out? She didn't know. Serenity guessed it was a matter of getting him in a quiet room alone and just talking to see what kind of mood he was in and whether he was ready to be confronted.

'_Too many thoughts… I'm getting a nice headache to go with everything else.'_ She felt herself begin to pout as she walked the streets, but smoothed her features and pushed on.

"Why did it have to be you?" she hissed angrily to herself and turned into her street with a troubled expression marring her beautifully innocent looking face.

She had a feeling she was going to need some painkillers and some time with her feet up before taking on the CEO of Kaiba Corp.

* * *

Kaiba sat in his large office chair behind an intimidating desk – effectively in the centre of his empire. And he was furious with one light brown haired, warm brown eyed girl. He had been alternately yelling at and firing people for the past two hours. The entire building was walking on extremely delicate eggshells.

Serenity Wheeler was an official enemy of Seto Kaiba's. The next time he saw her, he would get rid of her. The thought drifted away to recall previous memories that had been a source of great displeasure and emotional confusion. The few kisses between them had been drunken, anger inducing and vengeful, but had led Kaiba to feel embarrassed, angry and guilty. The guilt had been the worst because it led him down avenues of thought he didn't like to entertain at all, but somehow found himself wandering down anyway.

Also he remembered why he had forgotten all about his suitcase. It had been the anticipation of getting Serenity back for last night. _She_ had made him forget his greatest asset; his suitcase that contained his entire life. The revelation had been disturbing not exactly because she had made him forget to bring it with him, but after the disastrous kiss, his guilt and slight – yes, _slight_ – concern for Serenity had made him discard all thoughts of the suitcase.

Kaiba shuddered as a thought struck him; she had become some kind of patron of his emotions. When she was around, he _felt_ his emotions opening up; even if it was anger or guilt at least it was something. Sometimes it was other things, but he wouldn't dare indulge them…

His emotions flew into a confused muddle around her. Repulsion mixed with twinges of an unnameable feeling that made him want to run away as fast as he could. He still hadn't worked out whether this was good or bad. They needed to be shut down, just like Gozaburo had moulded him.

Well, if Serenity was some crazy patron of his emotions, then she would have to be got rid of before his company ended up an economic smoking hole, he firmly decided. No-one had control of Kaiba's heart but Kaiba, he failed to convince himself.

He would get rid of her tonight and then he'd be free to finish the project and remain alone. For good.

Holding that thought resolutely in his head, he picked up the phone on his oversized desk and dialled home. He listened to the phone, his eyes darkening with anger with each ring. He was about to slam the phone back down when Mokuba finally picked it up.

"Yeah?" Mokuba answered with irritation in his voice. Kaiba's faced darkened even further if that was even possible and gripped the phone tight to stop him from flying off the handle.

"It's Seto. Call Serenity and tell her to get over to the mansion at seven. I want to talk to her, but don't tell her that. Tell her… _you_ want to talk, or just see her. I don't care, just get her there. I need to speak to her." Kaiba felt cold and steely, as he wanted to; shut off from the world. Manipulative.

He heard Mokuba make a grinding noise in his throat much like he did and felt his resolute façade slip slightly, but swiftly recovered it. Mokuba was likely to try and stand up to him, but it would prove futile when he was in a very hard-headed mood, as he was today. Nothing was going to stop Kaiba from pushing Serenity out of his life for good.

"Seto, why are you trying to be so secretive around Serenity all of a sudden?" Mokuba questioned, clearly picking up the cold edge in his brother's voice. It didn't bode well at all.

"I merely wish for Serenity not to discover that I want to talk to her," Kaiba informed his brother in a falsely gentle tone that came out condescending. Kaiba could practically hear Mokuba bristle.

"Did you have a fight?" Mokuba asked apprehensively and Kaiba realised how this could play to his favour. A little bit of lying never hurt when it came to getting what he wanted.

"Yes. Will you call her?" he replied abruptly.

"'Kay," said Mokuba sullenly and cut the call. Kaiba leaned back into his chair as if to relax, but looked stiffer in his seat than ever. He glared at some paperwork in front of him before standing and striding to his door.

Some more people needed to feel his wrath before the day was out. More would be fired by the end of the day; he would guarantee it. A small cruel smile twisted onto his lips and he exited his room.

* * *

Mokuba lay on his bed in his room, his blue-grey eyes glowering at the phone.

"Bloody brothers," he muttered and rolled from his stomach onto his back to stare at the smooth ceiling painted to look like the Milky Way. He was starting to think he was getting a little old for it, but hadn't the heart to change it. Kaiba had commissioned it for Mokuba's tenth birthday after Mokuba had spent the best part of a year telling his brother all about how cool space was. And when Mokuba had seen his ceiling, he'd been awestruck. It had been the coolest thing he had ever seen. The detail still held up today, the swirls and individually painted dots almost as good as it was seven years ago. It reminded him that his brother really did love him and that he had to do what he told him, even if it did sound a bit questionable. Mokuba hadn't liked the cold tone in his voice one bit.

Mokuba got up and made his way to the phone, but stayed his hand.

"I think I'll go to the living room to handle this," he said to the empty room and stretched before strolling out of his room and downstairs. The mansion always felt empty whenever Mokuba walked around the place. It was far too large for just the two of them and Mokuba hated showing people around dozens of rooms that he hadn't visited in months or even a year or more.

He pushed the door open to the living room and grabbed the cordless phone off the heavy oak desk that sat to the side of the room. Reluctantly, he fished his mobile phone out of his pocket and found her number. With a slight pause, he dialled her number and patiently waited for a reply.

"Hi Mokuba, are you alright?" Serenity answered a little too soberly for Mokuba's liking. The teenager straightened his shoulders and frowned.

"Fine, but you sound unhappy. Are you okay?" he asked her, his voice filled with concern. Serenity paused and Mokuba wondered what on earth had happened since yesterday.

"I'm well, but if your brother and I don't work together on this project… well we'll never get it done. Mr. Bamako will tear his hair out from the stress," Serenity sounded like she was joking, but Mokuba suspected it wasn't far from the truth. He had to ask her to come like he'd said he would, but he wouldn't enjoy it in the least. Part of him dreaded what his brother had in store for Serenity.

"Uh, I was wondering if you wanted to come 'round here later, like maybe seven. You know, unless you don't want to. I'm not supposed to tell you this, but Seto kind of put me up to it. He wants to talk to you," Mokuba explained to her. She had a right to know what she was potentially in for if she came to the mansion.

"Of course. I kind of need to talk to him too," Serenity said sombrely and Mokuba wondered what was wrong. If his brother had done anything to hurt her, Mokuba swore he would hurt him. He liked Serenity too much to have Kaiba chase her away.

"Did he do or say anything to you? Because if he did, you don't have to talk – I'll do it for you," Mokuba offered and he heard a small half-hearted chuckle on the other end of the line.

"Thank you, but I couldn't. I need to speak to him myself. We didn't exactly fight, but… I don't know what happened. Don't worry yourself about it. I'll come by at seven then. Bye." And the phone went dead in his hand. With a heavy sigh, Mokuba put the phone down and kicked back on the couch.

He would have to find out what was going on later. For now some rest was in order until the evening. Work would have to be done.

* * *

_Eight o'clock that evening…_

Yugi strolled through his local park glad for a breath of fresh air. He felt like he had been cooped up all day with college and the game shop eating into every hour of free time he had. Still, duty prevailed when it came to Yugi and he was set on being a teacher if it killed him. He wouldn't fail his grandfather.

The brief meeting Yugi had managed to hold at the game shop concerning Bakura hadn't gone as well as Yugi had hoped. Tristan and Tea had turned up, but no-one else. Mai seemed busy, and he wouldn't alert Joey unless it became imperative. It had been an uncomfortable affair, where every glance at Tea had felt like an electric shock. Unfortunately, she was rather taken up with staring, when she thought he wasn't looking, at Tristan. In fact, Tristan kept glancing at Tea every so often. The way the two had behaved at college had been equally suspicious. Yugi hadn't liked what he had seen at all. He lightly kicked a stone off the path and he felt Yami-Yugi shift in his mind.

'_You are unhappy,'_ the ancient Egyptian's thought's echoed in his head. Yugi wished he didn't have to share everything with Yami-Yugi, but he supposed it was a small price to pay for all he had gained; like the ability to win at Duel Monsters to begin with. A ghost of a grin flitted across Yugi's lips.

"I am… fine," Yugi murmured, his large violet eyes ranging around the murky park. It wasn't far from home, but still… the way the breeze caressed his neck made him shiver. Something felt wrong.

"I am always fine," Yugi mumbled sadly to himself. He would just have to forget about Tea and focus on helping Serenity before she got hurt. He would get along just fine, as he always did and do the right thing; bring Bakura in before he hurt someone.

Suddenly, a burst of light from a powerful torch nearly blinded Yugi, but in the brilliant haze a face contorted with malice was illuminated. Yami Yugi had already cried out the name before Yugi could choke it out himself. Bakura was lithe and strong, using the element of surprise to grab Yugi's wrists and viciously twist them so he yelled in pain.

Abruptly, Bakura let go and smashed a balled fist into Yugi's mouth, splitting his lip open and causing blood to gorily trickle down his chin. Dazed, Yugi fell to his knees, wrists burning and lip throbbing. Something unseen in the shadows appeared in Bakura's pale hand; how he came by it was unknown. All Yugi could say was it was cold and solid as iron as it crashed into his head and he slumped into the damp dusk grass.

Blood pooled about Yugi's head as the cruel white haired man gave one last look at his deed before he calmly melted into the night, leaving the prone body to lie in the damp grass by the park's path…

* * *

AN: This took what felt like FOREVER to finish. I already had two thousand words of it and thought 'Half done! Easy!' but it turned into a slow process of constantly checking my summaries file to remind myself what I had in mind. I'm just glad it's done. Maybe I'll finally finish this story… but we've got a way to go yet. I feel like I've ran a damn marathon, but I'm kinda tired. Thank you to my reviewers – you make my day guys! - one tired Cat Alex out for the count.

P.S – A hint of what's to come? Sure! Well… the big storm is coming, folks, so batter down the hatches! Yes, it's Serenity vs. Kaiba and the outcome is going to be intervened by a certain person… Also we learn about the fate of poor Yugi. Did he make it? Don't look at me – I just write it! See ya!


	13. Explosive Conflict

AN: Hello everyone! Another chapter hot off the press… sorta. Well, anyway… let's go to my dear reviewers!

Hakubaikou-chan: I read about threat's… so unfair. I always get a bit concerned over whether I keep people in character, because when I write it just sort of comes naturally, but I get all paranoid about it, in case I just _think_ I'm keeping them in character. But enough of my crazy thoughts! Thank you, and I hope this update wasn't too late… but I do like to finish the next chapter before posting. So chapter fourteen will be complete when I post this! Anyway…

DidiHoney: Yeah, I guessed that some of this chapter could be predicted, but unless I did something either drastically OOC, or just plain ridiculous (which could fall under OOC anyway) it was going to have predictable elements. Still, I hope you enjoyed it! My money-shot was Bakura's attack on Yugi, so I'm hoping that was the unpredicted bit – thanks for pointing!

Kaibasquallsgirl07: I'm a moron for not noticing the 07 that was there all along – how unobservant am I? You're about to find in this chapter how Yugi is (alive, dead – who knows?) and Serenity vs. Kaiba is very… I can't really describe it. Serenity is maybe a little OOC (runs in horror), but I reasoned out she was frustrated and a woman on edge! (Thinks briefly about Shrek 2) Hope you enjoy and thanks!

Darkhope: Someone new! Hello and welcome! Glad you like my story – I swear I've read some of yours before, but I have a wandering mind which is unreliable. Thanks for the review!

**Chapter Thirteen: Explosive Conflict**

_Seven o'clock_

Serenity pushed the buzzer and waited for a reply, nervously fiddling with the lavender coloured bag she had brought with her. Her instincts told her an argument was on the horizon.

'_As usual,'_ she thought bitterly as she glanced behind her shoulder to see the low leaden clouds drift across the ash coloured sky. The heat must have brought it on, Serenity was sure. Just what she needed – dreadful weather to add to the impending battle. Not that felt armed to fight such a battle with one Seto Kaiba. He could be as hard as a diamond when he wanted to and she hated the fact that she had no defence that he couldn't work out how to penetrate and probably cut her deep.

She felt like she had lost before it had even begun.

The door opening abruptly broke her thoughts and she snapped her head up to see Mokuba standing in the doorway, peering at her with concern. He was dressed extra sloppily in loose jeans and a navy shirt that looked as if he had slept in it for a week. Even his blue-grey eyes bore a stressed appearance, as if he too was waiting for a battle to break out on his doorstep. She felt a distinct empathy for him.

"Are you alright, Serenity? You looked on the verge of tears," he said as he let her in and she gave an edgy laugh, shaking her head.

"I'm okay. Is Seto about?" she asked, determined to get to the point before she lost her nerve and hid out with Mokuba. The teenager merely waved a hand dismissively as he slouched along the corridor that lead to the living room and main kitchen. Serenity warily followed, wondering where he was taking her without a word and self-consciously picked imaginary fluff from her jacket sleeve.

They were just passing the living room door where it opened and Kaiba emerged with a blank expression on his face. Serenity took a step back while Mokuba reluctantly halted and turned to face his brother with an equally blank face, void of emotions, save his eyes which glowered slightly.

"I'll take it from here, Mokuba. Serenity, if you would step inside…?" Kaiba said coldly and Serenity pulled herself together and entered, only pausing to look back at Mokuba who gave a depressed wave before the door shut. Serenity looked up to find Kaiba staring down at her, his face like carve stone, but his eyes… they appeared cold but Serenity could swear there was a trace of something else within. Yet she was worried that she was imagining things. Maybe this newfound attraction had finally addled her brains, she wasn't sure. Before she could attempt to peer deeper, he walked away to lean against the heavy oak desk and silently watched her. She moved from the door to the couch and gingerly sat down, waiting for him to start shouting or something. But he didn't say a word and this freaked her out far more than him yelling. She knew where she was with yelling, but this silence drove her crazy. It was like he had finally taken any emotions he had under control and walled them up behind that cool façade. And it concerned her greatly.

But first… an apology, of a kind.

"Seto…" his name sounded strange in her mouth, "I-I'm sorry for the way I behaved in Business class today, but I was really upset by the way you had acted this morning. And I hope we can just get over this and work on the project uninterrupted for once and finish it, so Mr. Bamako won't end up having a nervous breakdown. Okay?" she said in a surprisingly level voice, when inside she was quivering like a leaf. He still stared impassively and it was beginning to seriously irritate her, but if he just accepted her apology and maybe move on to a better relationship. Whether a working one, or something else, she didn't want to dwell on that precise moment.

Kaiba shifted a leg and straightened, only his hands resting behind him on the desk. His expression finally changed, darkening, but his eyes wouldn't meet hers, instead sliding past her shoulder into the distance.

"I want you off the project and out of my life. We will not talk at the college, you will not come to my house and I will grant you the same. We shall be out of each other's lives for good." His voice sounded dead and hollow, as if he were being operated like a puppet. His voice chilled Serenity to the bone. She couldn't believe what he was saying.

"Uh, we had this conversation what feels like an eon ago," she replied, a slight smile tugging the side of her mouth, "and you agreed to let me stay on. Nothing's changed since then."

Kaiba frowned and finally turned his gaze on Serenity. Serenity wondered what he was thinking as his a kind of cold fusion of anger burned in his icy blue eyes.

"'Nothing's changed'! Are you blind? Everything's changed! We essentially hated one another, but we tolerated the other's presence in order to achieve the goal of finishing the project. But then all this other crap has been dragged in and I've had enough! No more conflict – just go," he ranted, his eyes ablaze as he strode toward her until his face was inches from her, towering over her.

Serenity couldn't believe he would taunt her like this after the last time they were this close and she could feel her hand reaching up to his face, but he pulled back. Confusion graced his handsome features and her hand instead covered her mouth in shock that she would do something so foolish.

"Wha- what are you doing?" he demanded and she shook her head, her eyes widening in surprise at both her actions and his confusion. He looked like she had really put him off balance, but she hadn't gained any advantage over the situation – she felt just as bewildered and off balance as he looked.

"I- nothing. You can't do this! I haven't dragged you into anything you haven't involved yourself! So you're as much to blame as me!" she countered, desperate to win a battle that would draw no certain conclusion. It was just an argument of two powerful wills, in their own way.

Serenity left the couch, instead moving behind it for some vestige of comfort and separation from Kaiba. It made her feel a little better, but he still stood there only a meter from the couch, though now he had turned away from her.

'_Why won't he face me?'_ she wondered as she warily watched his taut back. He looked like he was fighting with himself, with his back and shoulders so tight and head lowered slightly.

'_What went wrong?'_ her mind worked and she just stood there, trying to work the man out before he could throw her out. She needed to _know_.

Kaiba was tired of fighting and just wished he would dare to call security to come in and remove her. But to do that would be… wrong. Even she deserved a little better than that. And to bring in security into his private life was something Kaiba wouldn't consider when they could tell anyone about it, for competitors to potentially find out and try to capitalise on it… it just couldn't be allowed.

He straightened his shoulders, which were stiffening painfully from the tenseness he was exuding. But relaxing was difficult with _her_ about, probably watching him because he wouldn't look at her. What the hell had she been doing when her hand looked like it was going to touch his cheek? He was telling her effectively to get out! Perhaps she hadn't understood.

"Get out!" he turned in a flash and bellowed. She jumped and her pretty eyes widened in surprise, but not fear. The lack of fear had surprised him and proved to himself that he had been right to get rid of her. If she was no longer afraid, that could only mean she was becoming accustomed to him, and to become used to Seto Kaiba was for Kaiba to lose the edge of control he had. And that was only allowed for Mokuba on some occasions.

"I won't! I know your game now, Seto Kaiba!" she shot back, her finger pointing viciously at him, as if she thought she could stab him with it. Kaiba's mask began to slip as his eyes narrowed dangerously, his mouth tightening with an effort not to shout back.

"There is no game. You are deluded and I want you to leave," he barely kept his voice to that silky furious tone he liked to use to terrorise. Its effectiveness was in the softness it was delivered, but it seemed lost to Serenity as she came out from behind the couch and stood in front of him.

"You wall yourself into this mansion because you don't want to have to face anyone! You try to be cold so you don't have to get to know anyone! You're trying to force me away now just so you can be alone! You don't want to deal with emotions, so you wall them away and its stupid!" she yelled and Kaiba's cold eyes flashed dangerously. He was sick of this. Why wouldn't she leave!

"It's none of your concern! Why should you care?" he growled, gritting his teeth tightly until his jaw ached.

"Because I… just do," she said tiredly, visibly flagging. She sat down, a hand hiding her face, unwilling to meet his questioning eyes.

He gave up on trying to work her out and strode to the desk, shoving papers together until they were neat. Anything to keep his hands busy from throttling her. They were getting nowhere! She wasn't going to back down and he hated losing control of situations, so they were at a stalemate; neither was going to back down. But surely there was somewhere else to go?

* * *

"Can't face me now? Hiding behind papers?" she taunted, anger taking over any introspection on her part and Kaiba fisted his hands tightly before her eyes.

"Shut it, Wheeler," he snapped, his eyes glaring so fiercely Serenity was convinced her brain should have been melting by then. It shocked her a little, hearing him revert back to using her surname. It had been what felt like forever since he'd called her that. He sat down, his face stony and turned his gaze away from her. His hair was shadowing his eyes as he seemed to read the page in front of him. Serenity wasn't convinced he had put their arguing out of his mind so fast though and stepped toward the desk, but didn't dare put her hands on it or try to appear extremely imposing. She hadn't grown _that_ brave. Instead, she primly folded her arms and stood as straight as she could so she could tower over him.

"What did you say?" she asked in a dangerously calm voice and Kaiba smirked before he eyes, clearly amused. His eyes coldly met hers and the smirk increased, along with her fury toward him. He leaned back into his chair, hands lightly gripping the armrests.

"I told you to be quiet, Wheeler," he answered and Serenity finally lost it. She strode around to where Kaiba was sitting, grabbed him around the neck and began hauling him backwards. He cried out in surprise and reached out to hold onto the desk before he toppled backwards, but clawed uselessly, sending papers flying. Serenity was possessed; pulling him back as hard as she could. In her mind, she had snapped and just wanted to show him how mad she was. In the anger sense, not the sanity sense, but she was sure Kaiba thought she had lost it by now.

"Let go!" growled Kaiba in a strained voice cut off from air. Her arms were locked tight around his throat. He tried to pry her off, but he only unbalanced the chair and he was sent tumbling backwards into her. The chair nearly crushed Serenity, but she was too incensed to care.

"Why – don't – you – understand!" she panted, Kaiba's back against her chest. She had let his neck go, but she hadn't finished with him. But all she could manage was a weak punch which barely touched his shoulder. It had been quite an effort hauling his backwards like that. She just wanted to shock him, to make him sit up and pay attention and _listen_ to her. All he was doing was pushing her away and not thinking about _her_. It was selfish, she knew, but she didn't deserve to be taken off the project just because _he_ said so when she had put in so much effort when there were other things to do. She had tolerated Kaiba, hadn't she? And how did he respond? With this… this…

"Bullshit! You're just pushing me away! You don't want to let me in – that's what this is about and I'm not having you make me ditch the project because of it!" she yelled, digging her fingers into his shoulders as he tried to stand. He got to his feet with difficultly, Serenity gripping him so tight, her nails firmly wedged into his shoulders. He growled in pain and Serenity let him go. She was wondering how far she could push him and she thought she had pushed the limit the minute she had effectively head locked him. His icy blue eyes were blazing with a furious fire the likes she hadn't seen before. She had thought she wasn't brave and that this had been a statement that she was not afraid of Seto Kaiba. Now she looked back, it was more an insane act of stupidity, perhaps even desperate. She wished she could take it back.

Kaiba was looking ready to kill; his clothes a mess now he had fallen gracelessly to the floor, had Serenity's talons buried into his shoulders and clumsily got to his feet. Serenity got to her feet and edged away from him back to beside the sofa, where she turned to see Kaiba watching her like a bird of prey. He slowly, deliberately began to brush his white shirt down before straightening and focusing those scary eyes on her.

"I shall go and call for the limo to take you home," he said emotionlessly, his fists gripped tight. It sent Serenity over the edge all over again, but not in anger, but despair. How could he do this? She was amazed that he had kept his cool, despite the emotions plain on his face: he wanted to kill her.

Despite the despair, that anger hadn't simply melted away into nothingness. It rose like a boiling kettle. Kaiba seemed to be waiting for her to respond as he just stood there and watched her, occasionally trying to straighten his once starchy white shirt. And it rose… and began to make her own fisted hand tremble as her emotions grew in her chest. Her heart was constricting, she could swear it was, as if all her emotions were trapped and needed to escape. Her eyes wouldn't leave his stiff form, simply waiting for her to basically ok her disappearance from his life. And she needed to get it out.

"I hate you!" she screeched her feelings succinctly, flinging a cushion at his head. He didn't move a muscle and let it bounce off the side of his head and fall to the floor. His eyes blazed with silent fury and Serenity could see the muscle in his jaw tick wildly.

Kaiba seemed to be completely frozen for several long moments before he curtly turned on his heel and left the room, leaving Serenity to stare after him in shock. She wasn't sure what had shocked her more; the fact she had made him finally snap with a cushion, or that he had finally abandoned her.

Serenity stood quite calmly considering the situation, wondering listlessly how long Kaiba was going to be. She didn't feel very comfortable in the mansion and it showed with the awkward way she stood in the middle of the room out of place, idly looking about. He was going to have to come back eventually, either to apologise or kick her out. Unless he sent Mokuba to deal with her, which she wouldn't have minded if her heart didn't ache to patch up the rift that had formed between herself and Kaiba.

Suddenly with no warning, she felt a need for cool air on her face and she frowned, wondering where the detached thought had come from. She didn't remember thinking it…

Serenity's mind seemed to become clouded with a mental fog she couldn't lift and her eyes gradually swivelled to one of the windows by itself.

_The window._

A voice caressed her mind, making her brain tingle and Serenity felt compelled to open the window, though for what reasons, the fog in her mind wouldn't allow her to think on.

Instead her legs extended and began to walk themselves over to the window, where she paused before being suddenly spurred on again and reached out to unlock it.

As the window opened, Serenity's mind began to clear slightly and she began to think about the cost of doing such a thing. This was however put out of mind as Bakura lithely climbed through the window leering and Serenity stumbled back as her mind snapped out of it's dreamy pall to face what she'd just done.

_Hush._

The voice urged her a little sharper than before, but Serenity wasn't fully under whatever control Bakura appeared to be exercising over her, and showed so by releasing a blaring scream.

Bakura leapt at her with a snarl and grabbed her, smacking her across the face roughly with a flat palm to stun her. He reached out and smashed the nearby display, wrenching out an object and dragging the completely dazed Serenity away from the window, lifting the object as he did so and ignoring the trickle of blood down his pale hand…

* * *

Kaiba turned back as he heard Serenity scream and, for the first time in he wasn't sure how long, felt true trepidation. For Serenity or himself, he wasn't quite sure, but that didn't matter; only getting to the source of the petrified scream mattered.

He began to run back to the living room, dreading what he was going to see. His feet pounded on the wooden floorboards in time to his elevated pulse as he swiftly made his way back to the room. He arrived within a minute and flung the door open with such a force it swung into the wall with a loud bang, the handle wedging itself partly in the plaster.

Kaiba stared at the sight before him. Bakura had Serenity draped in one arm that tightly gripped her around the waist, her eyes closed as if she were asleep, but her face creased in terrible pain. Held in Bakura's other hand was Kaiba's ring that had belonged to his mother and it was emitting some kind of scintillating energy that cascaded over Serenity's face and appeared to be linked with the expression of pain that coursed across her pretty features.

Kaiba bellowed at the intruder and rushed over to the two, barrelling his shoulder into Bakura's open side with the ring in his hand, causing the white haired man to growl in pain and relinquish his grip on Serenity, who consequently fell to the floor, looking akin to a feather she floated to the ground so lightly.

Bakura fell back, but merely gave an odious smile that curled across his lips and then turned and dived through the open window Kaiba realised he must have entered through. Kaiba stood staring, lost for a moment in shock before spinning around to see Serenity sprawled on the floor, her already quite pale face now deathly pallid.

"Serenity!" he gasped and dived to the floor where she lay almost as if dead. Not used to dealing with matters gently, the business world rarely being a place of softness. He extended out his arms and very gently, treating her like a fragile treasure, he put his arms under her and lifted her up so she rested weightlessly against his chest.

"Serenity, come on, wake up. What the hell did he do to you?..." he whispered in her ear, and receiving no response, picked her up into his arms and cradled her for a moment before moving to the sofa and sitting down so she was in his lap. Kaiba was slightly reassured by her breathing being reasonably normal, if a little fast. However, what concerned him was the feeling of her heartbeat, which was pounding so hard against her ribs he could feel it through his jacket, as if her body was trying to cope with the damage whatever surreal procedure Bakura had been in the process if doing.

Discarding the thoughts of what Bakura could have been doing, he instead extracted his phone from a pocket half covered by Serenity and dialled the emergency services.

"Hello," a chirpy female voice replied, "State your emergency."

"I need an ambulance to the Kaiba mansion. Someone has been attacked, or collapsed. I also need the police to report a break-in, but that can wait," Kaiba explained sternly, tension and alarm coursing through his body.

"Very well," the woman replied shortly. The magic word of Kaiba had been used once more to make any problems of the media getting a hold on such a story or anymore questions being raised, swiftly go away.

Kaiba cut the call and wondered if he should tell Mokuba, but decided against it, hastily putting his phone away as a voice in his head irritated him in the back of his mind.

'_Why would you do that? Is it because Mokuba would lavish attention on Serenity because he overtly cares for her, while _you_-'_ his accusatory though was cut off by him forcing it from his mind.

"I don't want to worry him," he murmured to convince himself and put all thoughts from his mind in favour of making sure Serenity was okay, even though she clearly wasn't. Paranoia became to creep into his mind as he wondered if he should have moved her. People were told to leave them and put them in the recovery position or something.

"Damn…" he muttered, cursing himself for putting his needs to make sure she was alright over her health.

'_What has that Bakura freak done to Serenity?'_ his mind started up against and Kaiba looked into her now balmy expression, all traces of any pain she had endured gone. Kaiba marvelled for a moment at her quiet beauty she held as he brushed a piece of her light brown hair from her face.

With an annoyed sigh at himself, he stood up with her in his arms and went to leave the living room when he remembered the window. He lay Serenity on the sofa and then firmly shut the window, locking it and then looking at the display case that had held his mother's ring to find it smashed. His eyes travelled to the ground where the conflict had happened to see the ring on the floor. He quickly picked it up and returned to Serenity, then went to pocket it, but halted. A thought crossed his mind and with a small smile he leant over Serenity and picked up her right hand, slipping the ring on her index finger only to find it wouldn't fit. He moved it down to her second from last finger before holding his hands up to look at them.

"Wedding one's left hand… thank God," he muttered and picked her up, walking out of the room. He couldn't help but admire the ring on her hand, the silver band with jewels inset catching every light they passed so it shined pleasingly to the eye.

'_Why did I do that? Because it looks good on her? Maybe the ring is connected to her if Bakura was using it on her?'_ he halted his train of thought and briefly glanced at her still unconscious, before returning to reality and the task at hand.

He made it to the front door and managed to wrench it open with one hand to find the ambulance parked outside, the ambulance man about to press the buzzer.

"A man broke in and attacked her somehow before escaping. I don't know what he did to her," Kaiba told the man flatly and the guy gawped at the millionaire, who was carrying a pretty woman in his arms as if it were the most natural thing in the world, who levelly stared back until the man gathered himself and directed Kaiba to the ambulance.

Kaiba obliged, feeling increasingly rattled in the company of the ambulance man, strolled past him and placed Serenity's limp body on the gurney.

The ambulance man hopped in and strapped her securely down before hooking her up to some machines and then turning to Kaiba with a serious expression on his largely awed face.

"You coming along?" he casually asked and Kaiba floundered for a moment, unsure whether to stay of go, or even if Serenity would _want_ him to go after what had happened. A dilemma presented itself in Kaiba's already confused mind.

"Uh… I'm not related to her or anything, I…" he said uncertainly and the ambulance guy watched him impassively, yet something in Kaiba told him he was secretly being judged by those blank eyes.

"You don't have to, you know," the man told him in an attempt to reassure the multi-millionaire and Kaiba finally set his jaw, unwilling to take the advice of a mere ambulance man. He had to be… honourable, perhaps.

"I'm coming," he decided firmly and sat himself across from Serenity's prone body. He sat next to her and waited for the man to reply.

"Okay," the man replied and got out, shutting him in the back before climbing into the driver's seat. Kaiba wondered what Joey would do when informed of what occurred. Probably he would hit first, ask questions later.

* * *

They had arrived two hours ago and Kaiba hadn't seen Serenity since. She was mobbed by a great number of doctors and nurses, courtesy of the Kaiba name being mentioned in the phone call. Kaiba was glad that she was getting the best treatment around; he wouldn't allow her to have anything less. The pervading sense of guilt saw to that. It had been his fault, he was sure of it. If he hadn't called her around to force her away, she would have been fine. They could have gone along as they were and been okay, rather than hospitalised. He could have done something about Bakura… have him taken in, put private resources on the matter, but he had done nothing despite the threat Bakura had posed to Serenity.

Kaiba was in an uncomfortable plastic chair which was too short for his legs so he stretched them out as best he could without tripping everyone up. He had seen Joey rush past to demand as much information as he could without getting carted away by security and Kaiba hadn't seen the upset blond since.

A nurse walked by and Kaiba stood, taking her arm.

"Excuse me, but do you know if Serenity Wheeler is alright?" he asked politely. In his mind he asked it politely, but it came out like a growled demand. The nurse stared up at him with a mixture of fear and disdain and calmly extricated her arm from his grasp.

"I can't give out information like that, sir," she replied coldly and quickly walked on before he could grab her again. Annoyed, he sat back down and tapped his foot before standing again.

"I didn't get this status without its rewards," he muttered and strode to the information desk a few corridors away. Kaiba had no love for hospitals. The last time he was in one of these… Mokuba's birth. A happy occasion, of course, but with one life born, so did another die. Their mother. So it had been both a very joyful and terribly sad day Kaiba never liked to dwell on for long. He shut that memory away as he arrived at the information desk. He'd had enough of waiting.

"I'm Seto Kaiba and I brought in a Serenity Wheeler two hours ago. I would like to know where her room is to see if she's alright," Kaiba said in a steely voice. He wasn't letting anyone else talk down to him today.

The middle aged woman looked up and her mouth opened slightly, indicating that she knew who he was. She nodded, making her greying curls shudder and began typing on her computer.

"Um, she's in room one hundred and three, sir. Just down that corridor and the first right, sir," she replied with wide eyes and Kaiba nodded and departed in the direction she had indicated. He meant to talk to her as soon as possible and find out what had happened when he'd left her. When he rounded the corned he wasn't particularly surprised to find Joey just exiting the room Serenity was in. He looked a little bedraggled, his face worn with worry. Kaiba knew how much Serenity meant to Joey – as much as Mokuba meant to him. Everything.

"She's alright?" Kaiba asked and Joey jerked his head up to face Kaiba, his brown eyes narrowing. Joey didn't say anything, just nodded. Both appeared to be positively straining to retain decorum.

"Can I talk to her?" Kaiba asked Joey and the two men locked eyes levelly, both weighing up each other. Joey kept his emotions in check as best he could, relying on the memory of Serenity's calming speeches on his overreactions when it came to Kaiba. Meanwhile, Kaiba narrowed his cool eyes, not wishing to give away the feeling of almost _needing_ to see her. He kept his face emotionless, regarding Joey almost with disinterest, but still the burning desire to get through the door behind Joey prevailed, but he remained calm. It was quickly broken.

"Oh no, not Serenity too!" a voice cried in dismay from down the corridor and both Joey and Kaiba turned around to see Tea and Tristan approach, both their faces fixed in grim expressions. Kaiba made no move, while Joey trotted forward a few steps and frowned in confusion.

"Whaddya mean? What happened?" Joey asked bewilderedly and Tea wrung her hands before her face crumpled and she sat heavily in a waiting seat, her face now hidden in her hands. Tristan sat beside her and placed a reassuring arm around her shoulder before he looked up at his best friend.

"Yugi – he was attacked by who we think was Bakura. Tea and I… we were… on a date and we took a shortcut through the local park… we found him lying just off the path and called an ambulance immediately. We had no idea how long he'd been there, but he was so cold… I-I thought for a minute he was…" Tristan fell silent and Kaiba gripped his hands into fists. Bakura was getting far out of hand and needed to be dealt with before he could hurt Serenity, Kaiba decided. He didn't give a damn Yugi – a truly evil part of him wouldn't have cared if Yugi had died – but his attack was linked to Serenity's and that… that mattered to him. Yet his recent confrontation with the white haired madman had been inconclusive. But whatever happened… Kaiba was not going to see Serenity hurt like that again. Ever.

AN: So there was chapter thirteen. How'd I do? This chapter was done in several time periods, with the attack on Serenity written very early on when I was still pottering about with the first four or five chapters, so that was a _long_ while back. I hope it didn't seem to apart from the rest of the chapter, but I write in an odd, disjointed way. Chapter fourteen is being written backwards at the moment from a section of the chapter I've finished backward. I'm not sane of mind, but whatever works, right? What was that? A peek at the next chapter? Well, sure! Lets see… according to my summaries file, I decided to place _Waking Up To Reality_ here, in which Kaiba and Mokuba pay a visit to Serenity. Awkward conversation ensues, so keep tuning in! I've almost broken 60,000! Yay! (Well, on my word file, I _have_ broken it) Buh-bye until next time, folks! CA


	14. Waking Up To Reality

AN: Thanks everybody for the reviews! I really appreciate them. So, then – let's go have a look see!

DidiHoney: What happens next…? Well, you're about to see! I can write darkly, but I don't like to, because everyone would just get depressed and the relationship may well close off. And we can't have that! I like an injection of humour – even if it isn't exactly intended when written. Sometimes I read things back to myself (usually when my kind beta Asmodean is checking it over) and I realise how funny it is. Thanks for the support!

CrimsonFaeSorceress: Another new person! Hello! You have the same Yu-Gi-Oh hated pairings as me! Tea and Kaiba (gag) were simply never meant to be (intense conviction)! I admit, the argument was a little OOC (cringes). But not _too_ much, right? Once more, I love to inject a little humour – this story wasn't intended to become too dark even with Bakura running around like a madman. Thank you for reviewing!

Walis: Hey there, ho there! It's Walis! I love anticipation of chapters, though I find it torturous due to my lack of patience. It ISN'T a virtue (sulks). I'm hoping interesting didn't mean either A) She's gone totally insane with her writing, or B) No, once more the madwoman, or completely OOC. Not OOC! Never! But… thank you for the review!

CAMEO.1 and Only – Another new reviewer (does small jig)! Um, sad how? Is it like sad, as in stupid story? Is that just a British thing (briefly wanders off to think about her country) Not sure on that. Or was it sad, as in upsetting? If so, then never fear and don't cry! Things are to come (purposefully becomes mysterious). Thank you for your review!

Miss Artemis (possible GoldenStar) – Yet another new reviewer! Welcome! I'm glad you really like this story – but the update cannot come ASAP, but more like the 29 (it's the 23 as I write this). This is because I work on a bi-weekly to a monthly update rota. This is because I compulsively can't put up another chapter without having the next one finished. Plus, I warn folks that soon another chapter may not be up for a while due to the fact I have my A Level exams (they get me into university) throughout June. Sorry folks, but maybe I'll put the next chapter after this up quickly and leave it at that for a little while. Don't despair! Thanks!

Kaibasquallsgirl07: Yeah, I loved writing the cushion bit too. Bakura is crazy – but it is top secret as to what he's all about… (oh the mystery! - RAFO) Kaiba doesn't have a Millennium Ring, but perhaps the ring he does have is something special…

Um… sorry to suck the fluffiness out, but Kaiba didn't put the ring on Serenity's wedding finger. He was kind of relieved he didn't, because he hates admitting things to himself and especially to others. I'm glad you're glad that I updated! I love updating… when I get around to it (holds her 20 day-ish policy close) I will remember about doughnuts, but I haven't eaten one in ages (pause for thought)… Maybe I should! Thanks!

Not let us look at the chapter known as…

**Chapter Fourteen: Waking Up To Reality**

They were all still in hospital and Kaiba was becoming tired. The group of friends all waited outside the room Serenity was sleeping in, since only family members could visit until she was a bit better. Every so often Tea and Tristan would return to Yugi's room where Yugi's grandpa was anxiously waiting for Yugi's condition to improve. By midnight, it was clear nothing was to be gained from remaining at the hospital, and he did have to make sure Mokuba was alright. Even aged seventeen, the boy couldn't look after himself to save his life – he didn't have an organised bone in his body.

He waited outside in the cool night air, glad to be out of such a close proximity to Joey and all Serenity's little friends. He hated how they were all so openly concerned. Sure, he was just as concerned as they were, but he'd never show it when anyone could be around. A part of him felt responsible for what had happened to her and it was beginning to eat him up inside, though once again he would not admit it. Secrets were the life of a Kaiba.

The limo drew up beside him and shook him from his gloomy thoughts. Lanoka stepped out, fine after his recent ordeal with Bakura, and opened the door for Kaiba, who ducked down and into the limo with barely a glance. Kaiba had too much on his mind and he just wanted to get home before he did something he would regret.

"Home, Lanoka. Now," Kaiba commanded and the engine started up. Kaiba stiffly reclined in the leather seat, his eyes not even taking in what he was seeing of the rushing landscape. He got home fine and entered the eerily silent house. Mokuba could have been attacked for all Kaiba knew.

'_And all that I've done was fawn over some stupid girl when he could have been in danger!'_ thought Kaiba heatedly as he stormed to Mokuba's bedroom, his pace getting quicker as he approached. Mokuba had to be alright, or he would die…

"Mokuba!" Kaiba burst into Mokuba's room to find the teenager passed out asleep on his desk covered in open books and messily stacked papers. Mokuba jerked upright with a yell, a piece of paper stuck to the side of his face, and he hurriedly pulled it off and stood. Kaiba didn't laugh at the sight or even find it amusing; he was just relieved his brother was safe from that psycho Bakura and anything less would have killed him.

"Could you have been a little quieter? I was trying to study," Mokuba said with a mischievous grin and Kaiba sighed, shaking his head incredulously. The room smelt of a strange mixture of takeaways and pine fresh air freshener. Kaiba did wonder what his brother got up to sometimes, but perhaps it was best left unanswered.

"Don't you ever stop?" Kaiba coolly replied, just thankful Mokuba was in one piece. Mokuba's grin widened and he crossed the room and patted his brother on the back.

"Hey, thanks for worrying about me, even if I don't have a clue why. Did something happen?" Mokuba asked, slight confusion marring his face and Kaiba froze. He hadn't told him about Serenity.

"There was a problem earlier. Serenity was… hurt and had to go to the hospital," Kaiba neutrally informed Mokuba and Mokuba's face became the picture of shock. He grabbed his older brother's shoulders and drew him closer, putting two and two together and equalling five.

"You hurt her! Why would you do that!" growled Mokuba and Kaiba pushed him away with a frown.

"You think I would ever hurt Serenity! Bakura broke in and attacked her. I don't know what the hell he was doing, but he had our mother's ring in his hand. And I thought you may have been in danger too," Kaiba ended softly, willing the words out of his mouth. He had never been good at these things.

Mokuba calmed down and backed a little way from his brother, tiredness clear on his face now his mask dropped away. Mokuba was like Serenity in some ways and putting on bright appearances was one thing they shared. Now, Mokuba looked tired, unhappy and worn. He sat down on his bed and sighed heavily.

"I'm sorry, Seto. I didn't think. When was this? Why didn't you tell me?"

Kaiba shrugged and sat on Mokuba's desk chair, finally relaxing into a slumped heap, all resolve gone. He looked as tired as his brother, elbow resting on the desk to support his head in his hand.

"I was wrapped up with getting her to the hospital. I thought maybe you would see or hear the ambulance, but I know how unobservant you are. That and… a part of me…" he couldn't finish his sentence – that was too close to his heart. To tell him he felt a little jealous when Mokuba spent time around her and the ease the two interacted was too confidential a piece of information for Kaiba.

"What?" Mokuba pried, his face brightening with the challenge. He leaned forward with a small playful smile on his lips and Kaiba wished he hadn't said anything at all. It always led to trouble with Mokuba around.

"Nothing at all." Kaiba stood and crossed the room. "I forget how much of a headache you give me, Mokuba. I'm going to bed and tomorrow… we can call in on the hospital if you want."

"Of course! If she's… she'll be fine, I'm sure," Mokuba faltered and waved Kaiba away. Kaiba left, carefully closing the door and heading to his own room. What was he going to do with all these feelings inside of him when the last thing he wanted was to do was become mired in other people's lives? Wasn't that what his whole argument with Serenity had essentially been about? To acknowledge those feelings to himself or others… was something he wasn't sure that he could do. Pride could be a terrible thing and Kaiba felt it burn within him. To confess any emotions of the sort swirling within him would be to become open to attack… to be laid bare, something Kaiba couldn't bear the thought of. But if he wanted to continue seeing Serenity…

He shook his head. Ridiculous thoughts that shouldn't be thought. To wake up to them was to wake up in a reality Kaiba would rather be comatose in.

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Joey sat in Serenity's room, despite it being past visiting hours. He had told them how they really had no-one else and they had caved. At the moment, his baby sister slept, her face crinkled in mild pain. The doctors had no clue what Bakura had done to her, but they had made her comfortable and the results looked promising; Serenity had already woken up once, if briefly and without much to say but to ask where Bakura had gone and the location of Kaiba. Joey felt a little guilty lying about Kaiba being home instead of sitting outside with everyone else, but Joey felt it was for the best. He still had his suspicions over Kaiba's role in Serenity's attack – he always had a sense for these things when Serenity was involved. He swore she would never be hurt as long as he breathed and though she had not been remotely close to him to be protected, he still felt like he had failed his responsibility toward her.

"I'm sorry, Sis," he mumbled, his head resting on the edge of her bed as if he had been a bad dog. It was in the early hours of the morning and still he vainly tried to remain awake, though he was now fading fast. The police were on the case – Joey had forcefully made sure of that, though there wasn't a lot he could say. Perhaps it had been a mistake to largely ignore Kaiba when the man knew what had transpired. Still… security had been tightened around the hospital and it made him feel a little better.

A yawn escaped him and his eyes slid closed. In a moment he was sound asleep and dreaming of a certain violet eyed woman who had told him 'yes'…

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Kaiba awoke in the hazy morning light to find he had only slept for four or so hours. Not nearly enough for the world heavy tiredness he felt. He didn't particularly feel like getting up, but his eyes refused to close so he got up like the walking dead and made his way to the kitchen for that much needed cup of coffee.

He entered the kitchen to find Mokuba already in there and eating toast while hurriedly scribbling on some paper. Kaiba sighed and caught his brothers attention for a moment before he returned to his hurried scrawling, leaving Kaiba to shake his head and make some coffee before he fell asleep. He couldn't even be bothered to admonish Mokuba for leaving his homework to the last minute again, instead peering at the coffee machine as it made the substance he needed.

Finally attaining the much needed caffeine, he drank deep. Kaiba only did hardcore black coffee – anything else he considered a tainting of the caffeine. Meanwhile Mokuba finished his homework and now regarded his older brother, who was absorbed in drinking his breakfast.

"So we're gonna go and see Serenity this evening?" he asked and Kaiba simply nodded as he finished his breakfast and stood. He didn't feel in the mood to run his business empire, but he couldn't shirk duty just because he felt like it. The Big Five wouldn't be best pleased.

"We shall. But you need to get to school before you're late. I'm going to be at the office today, but I'll have the limo swing by after picking you up and we'll go then. Alright?" he questioned and Mokuba nodded as he swung out of his chair.

"Sure thing. Seeya, Seto!" he answered cheerfully and left Kaiba alone to think about what to say. Tonight was going to be… uncomfortable, but it had to be done. He couldn't abandon her now when Bakura was still loose.

He and Mokuba waited on the uncomfortable plastic chairs outside of Serenity's room while Joey visited his sister… well he'd never actually left, according to the brief and incredibly stilted conversation he had held with Tea. Work had been like any other day, except he kept the firing to a minimum for once. There was just no fun in firing people at that time. In the meantime Mokuba looked around, flashing a roguish smile at every nurse that passed by. More often than not, they returned the smile. Kaiba sighed at his brother's behaviour and returned his gaze to the door of Serenity's room.

"So… you really like her, don't you Seto?" Mokuba said casually and Kaiba resisted the urge to punch Mokuba that sprung into his head. Instead he balled his hands into tight fists and gritted his teeth tight.

"I have nothing to say, Mokuba. Not here or anywhere else." Kaiba managed to say between his gritted teeth and Mokuba laughed.

"That refusal to answer is answer enough, big brother," Mokuba said with a broad grin and Kaiba wished he had never met one Serenity Wheeler. He chose to ignore Mokuba and kept his eyes trained on the door while Mokuba chuckled and kicked back in the plastic chair as if it were the most comfortable thing in the world. Kaiba sighed and wished this was over with already.

"But don't worry, Seto," Mokuba whispered, now looking quite serious, "I'm not going after her in any way. I just wanna be her friend." Kaiba didn't know what to say, but it irked him that a part of him felt better hearing Mokuba say that. Before he could further contemplate the matter, Joey exited the room and Kaiba immediately stood and approached the man who he had a less than friendly relationship with. He doubted it was even a relationship, but they interacted on occasions, for better or worse.

"Joey," Kaiba said, internally grinding his teeth at addressing the dog normally, but to get in that room would require some civility, "I wish to speak to Serenity. Mokuba too, but I want to speak to her alone for a short time."

If he could get Mokuba out of the way so he could speak alone, perhaps he could make amends for leaving her like he did…

Mokuba joined him with a slight frown on his face and looked to his brother questioningly.

"Seto? Am I talking to her alone?" he asked and Kaiba nodded before taking his seat again. Mokuba gave Kaiba a confused look before turning to Joey with a small smile.

"Is that okay Joey, 'cause I don't mind if you're with me," he said sweetly and Joey shook his head and slapped the younger boy's shoulder with a grin.

"Nah, I trust ya. Five minutes at a time though, or the doctors get mad," Joey informed Mokuba, who nodded understandingly and entered the room Kaiba desperately wanted to enter and get his conversation over with. He hated that he wanted to see her so badly, but wasn't sure what he was going to say to her once he did. He couldn't apologise… it just refused to leave his mouth. One apology to her was enough for a lifetime surely. For him, one apology was incredible. Two would be bordering on phenomenal. He knew he shouldn't dwell on the matter, but he felt so guilty, as if he did owe her a true apology.

For five minutes he fought with himself before glancing up to see Mokuba watching him with a clearly curious expression on his face. Kaiba stood and Mokuba tipped his head slightly to one side and peered at his brother.

"Are you alright? I've never seen you so far away with the fairies," he commented and Kaiba scoffed, raising an inquiring eyebrow.

"'Away with the fairies'? What are you, ten again? I was thinking, that's all. Nothing to cause concern," Kaiba coldly replied and strolled into Serenity's room, now feeling a tinge of uncertainty. Perhaps he really shouldn't be here.

He looked up to see Serenity watching him with wide brown eyes, clearly surprised at his appearance and Joey stood between them. The blond boy was watching Serenity's reaction with intense interest before swinging his gaze to Kaiba who was internally speechless, but projected an aura of coolness. He couldn't let the dog of all people know what went on in his head.

Joey looked at Kaiba and Serenity for several very long and suspicious moments before leaving the room, closing the door firmly. Kaiba had the feeling he was trying to convey warning in the way he had shut that door. Kaiba and Serenity shared a look between them; a mixture of uncertainty, with some gratitude and a definite aura of tension. Kaiba couldn't help squirming when the phrase sexual tension drifted across his mind. He clamped his thoughts down and put on a calm demeanour.

"… How are you?" he asked politely, hiding any trace of concern. He couldn't… he just couldn't tell her anything like that. Not now and perhaps not ever.

"I'm fine, thank you. I get the occasional twinge of pain if I move too much, but apart from that I seem to be okay. I don't remember much though. What happened?" she asked, her eyes focused on his, any anger she had held tight that fateful night gone. Her voice sounded weak and it made him bristle to hear the effects of Bakura.

He explained concisely the event, but left out him placing the ring on her finger, or any overt concern he had had for her. It had been a little desperate, now he thought back to that night and it sickened him to appear so weak. Serenity had listened intently, her gaze never wavering from him and it began to disconcert him having her eyes upon him constantly, but made no mention of it.

"So… Well, I wonder what he was trying to do?" she mulled aloud and Kaiba shrugged unconcernedly. He still didn't know how to approach her, or how she would react to his comments. He always did find people difficult to predict.

"I have no idea, but I'm sure when the police bring him in all will be revealed. You'll be fine," he replied calmly and they fell into an odd silence, neither comfortable nor uncomfortable just… strange. Perhaps even a little strained after the last time they had spoken – or shouted, to be more close to the truth.

"… Um, you know I didn't mean it when I said I hated you, right?" she asked worriedly in that feeble voice and Kaiba's eyes slid closed as he sighed. He had known all along she didn't mean it, but still… it didn't make it sting any less. The great Seto Kaiba stung by a simple girl's spiteful comment. But really, should he really care? That thought got him and made him mentally curse.

"Of course."

"Oh. Good," she replied with a small smile as he opened his eyes to fix his gaze on the IV line to her arm. The strange silence returned. Kaiba looked around the room, but his gaze always ended up back on Serenity lying so helplessly in bed. All his fault, he was sure. If he had just admitted how he felt, or just got on with that damn project, she would be fine.

"Bakura is at large still, Serenity, and I'm still not sure what he did to you. It was… so surreal. I just entered and you were being showered in a strange light. I couldn't see its source," informed Kaiba and Serenity looked disheartened. She went to speak, but fell silent and seemed to tussle with herself for several moments before opening her mouth again.

"There are so many questions I want to ask… but I know you wouldn't know the answers. The only person who could answer them is Bakura himself… I hope he's caught soon. But for now… lets just think about it. What do you think the light was, Seto?" she asked him and Kaiba balked slightly at her using his name. He hadn't heard her say it in so long and it caught him by surprise. It also reminded him of a time not so long ago when he had reverted to her surname out of spite and he although he felt like he should apologise for the malicious remark, but he couldn't say sorry. Perhaps another time, but not now.

"Bakura is using some kind of power that I've never seen before. Probably something evil… This sounds unbelievably ridiculous, yet there is no other explanation for it but some unusual power," Kaiba deliberated, averting her questioning eyes and Serenity thought for several long moments.

"Power corrupts people," Serenity said weakly and Kaiba shook his head.

"Not me. I was corrupted before I even had a taste of power," he replied mysteriously, turning away from Serenity as the haunting memories of his childhood threatened to surface. He never dwelt on them if he could help it, using work – anything to distract him if they came near his conscious mind. He shouldn't have let something like that, even cloaked in mystery as it was.

"What do you mean?" asked Serenity in a small voice and Kaiba cursed himself for even admitting to it. Perhaps he shouldn't have come – he always felt a little out of control when she was too near and they were alone.

"Nothing. You should rest," he replied lightly, which made Serenity even more suspicious of what he was doing – something plain upon her face.

"Why did you even say that then? Do you want to tell me or not?" she pushed and Kaiba shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He wasn't sure why he had brought it up himself – it only threatened to turn him into a wreck and he certainly wasn't prepared to do that in front of anyone, especially Serenity.

"I don't know," he responded quietly, his eyes lowered to his now fidgeting hands in his lap. With a grimace he stilled them and carefully kept his eyes trained on his lap, unwilling to meet her beseeching brown eyes.

"Perhaps a part of you wanted to tell me," Serenity ventured, lifting her head up off her pillow to look at him and then cringed as pain shot through her body. She gave a slight gasp from the tenderness and Kaiba snapped his head to her pain lined face.

"Don't do that!" he protested and took her outreaching hand in his and eased her back down on the bed. Serenity pushed herself too far sometimes, Kaiba decided to his chagrin.

"You have to rest or Joey will kill me if you end up hurt while I'm here. He'll accuse me of beating you up so you can't work on the project," Kaiba glibly joked and Serenity relaxed into a slightly pain lined smile as she waited for the sting to subside.

"How is the project going without me?" she inquired, eager for something to talk about that wasn't too personal. Serenity decided she was going to have to wait for Kaiba to divulge the past that clearly pained him and not push for it or she was certain the opportunity would disappear forever for her.

Kaiba sighed heavily and realised that he was going to have to admit to something that would surprise Serenity.

"It's not. I stopped working on it and I'm waiting for you to get better," he told her with a short-lived embarrassed smile, his blue eyes nervously searching for something to look at that wasn't her. He settled for the hospital curtains and Serenity kept a straight face as her heart fluttered slightly at the gesture.

"Really?" she managed to choke out as her mind raced.

'_Does this mean what I think? That maybe he… needs me or something?'_ she thought with interest and Kaiba shifted in his chair again and managed to look at her.

"Well, uh, some of the venture and financial information you put together needed reviewing and, um, I would rather go through it with you than by myself and do things in a different direction to what you intended…" Kaiba explained, feeling like a dummy and made sure his face became suitably unemotional to contrast to the roiling emotions that were underneath. He wasn't sure how he felt anymore. He wished he's just kept his mouth shut – better to be silent than to sound so… foolish. Things used to be easy for him – look after Mokuba, the Kaiba Corporation and his studies, but now Serenity mixed everything up and complicated things. She made him apply how he felt about matters rather than what was best. At the moment, the side Gozaburo nurtured was calmly telling him to drop her and apply what was best for the situation and excel on the project alone. Kaiba put his head in a hand as his emotions wanted him to tell her about his past, talk to her and learn everything about her, maybe even, even…

"I-I have to go and check up on Mokuba," he said suddenly, standing up so fast he almost knocked his chair over. Serenity's eyes widened at the reaction and words fled from her mind.

"Oh," was all Serenity could say. She thought that maybe he was tired, or disturbed – she wasn't sure, but decided it was best to let him do what he thought was best for the time being. His face was pretty stark with a kind of startled confusion at that moment, so she put on a bright smile.

"Uh, okay. Well I hope you get home alright. Will you visit me again?" she asked, wondering what his reaction would be. Kaiba hovered next to her, looking down at her as if she were a difficult mathematical problem.

"Of course," his azure eyes focused on her large brown ones and Kaiba opened his mouth as if to say something, but shut it again. He didn't know what to say to her – his mind was in a whirl and he hated it with a passion. Why couldn't things be straightforward like work? He thought business was an uncomplicated field, but the way Serenity acted; she made it the most complicated thing he'd ever dealt with. But was that really business, now he thought about it, or just them? Them? Himself and Serenity, not a 'they' or even worse… a couple. Did he really feel that way, or was he just trying to deny it to make life easier? He didn't know anymore, but he didn't want to hurt Serenity any longer.

"I'll come by tomorrow," he informed her and then hesitantly rested his hand on hers reassuringly. Serenity barely had time to say anything before he had let go and vanished out of the door and into the evening hospital hustle.

'_What is happening?'_ Serenity asked herself as her stomach flipped with a frisson of emotion and shook her head, checked the time then curled up in her uncomfortable hospital bed and slept. After all, tomorrow was another day trapped in the hospital anyway.

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Kaiba hurried as fast as he could without looking too flustered or rushed. He had felt more than peculiar in the presence of such a beaten down Serenity. And all of it his fault in one way or another, he was sure. One thing was for certain – he couldn't return there again. Mokuba could visit as much as he liked, but he would not cross that threshold again. And when she got released… he wasn't sure what he would do.

&&&&&&&&&&

AN: This was a little shorter than my previous chapters, but I think it's for the best – I'm getting to grips with setting a reasonable development within each chapter without overrunning like I used to and end up splitting chapters into halves or even a third on one occasion. I just wanted to convey the confusion and sort out Mokuba's supporting role in the story. I hope you enjoyed, people! Huh? A sneaky peeky? Alright. Lessee… chapter fifteen is called _Mai Consoles_ and guess who appears? There is talking and recovering. Mokuba tries to cheer Seto up. Guess how well that goes. Okay everyone, I'm off! Love to all – Cat Alex.


	15. Mai Consoles

Hello, gentle folk! I bring with me review replies and a chapter to boot. Enjoy!

Maelgwyn-violetstar: I'm a Discworld fan too! I love the series and have recently read the new science of discworld book, which rocks! (Calms down) Thank you for your kind review – I don't really think my story is fast paced… I don't know, shouldn't really ask me. I just sort of meander along and plot occurs (grin).

Kaibasquallsgirl07: I love the paper sticking moment too. These things spontaneously type their way into my work. I agree strongly with you on the assessment of Kaiba! As for the caffeine… I think I drew upon myself for that one. I can't function without caffeine and am thoroughly empathetic to others in my poor caffeine addicted condition. I think I shall find my way to doughnuts and twixes this weekend, for after exams and finishing this chapter, I am famished and are in great need of such commodities. Hurray for chocolate and confectionaries! I really love your long reviews as I get a lovely insight into what people, and you in particular, think of this story. It's extremely helpful and buoys me up to write another chapter! Thanks!

Miss Artemis: What did Bakura do to Serenity? What was he trying to accomplish? All will be revealed, my friend – I promise. It isn't a get out while I think of a reason, for I do plan some way ahead. At least I explain that in the future. I want to keep the suspense (if there is any) up if I can. Kaiba's mother's ring? Another secret to be revealed in coming chapters. Why is he after Serenity? I quite like why… but I'm not going to tell you. I'm sorry if I'm being a meanie, but it would spoil the story to reveal all! Thank you for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Hakubaikou-chan: Thank you! I'm glad people are sticking this out with me. I hope I can bring a major payday for all my dedicated readers!

LiLgUrL: Um, yes. 'I'. But 'I' what? 'I… love this story!' I sure hope so! Thank you for your review… if a little on the short side… but there was probably a problem with the reviewing thing. I hope.

And now I unveil the wonder (or blunder?) that is…

**Chapter Fifteen: Mai Consoles**

It had been a week of recovering for Serenity and Yugi, and thankfully, they were doing very well indeed. She was already desperate to get out of bed and walking about, but the doctors would only let her shuffle about the hospital for five minutes a time no more than five or six times a day. And though it did tire her out, she wouldn't admit it. Joey always accompanied her, but she was becoming far more concerned that he hadn't returned to school and was missing important lessons. Joey always waved it away – he always rated his family over his own education – but it made Serenity feel so guilty. She just wished he would leave her and study. Serenity herself was getting work delivered by Mr. Bamako, who was very understanding of her accident and that she was unable to work further on the project for a while, but still the guilt weighed on her. Kaiba himself had said he wouldn't work on the project without her, which both filled her heart with a fluttering happiness and made the guilt all the more worse. Kaiba actually did care, but he was consequently putting everything in jeopardy. And anyway… was it too little, too late? Serenity wasn't sure anymore. The conversation they'd had in the hospital had been very awkward, but her heart had sang, just glad that he had come. That had spoke volumes enough for her, especially after the way they had argued, though she knew that he was only trying to push her away so he could… well, she wasn't sure. Be alone? She had no idea, except perhaps that was just the way he was. Maybe he didn't want to admit that sometimes, he liked people and wasn't as cold as he made himself out to be.

Serenity sighed. It was too much for her to dwell on right now, when she should be concentrating on getting better. That and continuing with her plan to somehow get to see Yugi. Though he was getting better, he still hadn't woken up, and this concerned everyone. Grandpa Moto, like Joey, had barely left the hospital as it was and was relying on Tristan and Tea to keep the game shop open for a little while, though from what Serenity had heard, it was only open for three or four hours a day and business was understandably suffering.

'_If only Bakura hadn't come back… but no, then he would have probably only hurt other people, who are even less well equipped to deal with it than we are. We're his friends and need to help him, even if he is hurting us,'_ Serenity mused, her body deciding to twinge slightly as if to remind her of the pain she had endured. It only hurt on occasion, though where the pain was actually coming from wasn't understood by anyone, not even the doctors. Whatever Bakura had done was not anywhere near normal. This kind of spooked Serenity, since she had no idea if the pain would _ever_ fade, though she tried to put a positive face on things. If she got to walk around, she got some time to distract her mind from darker thoughts like having this strange pain forever. It only began to twinge or stab when she over exerted herself, got overly stressed or just because the stupid pain felt like it. Serenity couldn't bear having it permanently. And if she had to…? She thought the need for vengeance would arise then, but hopefully it would fade. Already things were looking good – it wasn't nearly so bad as it had been a week ago. What nagged at her was that the doctors had no clue. She liked knowing things and not being out of the know, especially when it was something important like her health! It was no good though.

"I'll only know in time," she murmured to herself with a sigh and looked at the time. It was going to be a few hours before Joey came by since her and the entire group forced him to finally go home, get some proper rest and actually go to college before they chucked him out. Reluctantly, he agreed and Serenity found it was quite nice to have at least some time in peace and quiet. Still, she wanted to talk to someone, specifically about Kaiba and how she felt. She hoped that one of the girls would talk to her on her own, so she could talk to them. After the last conversation she'd had with Kaiba, she'd been left all alone. He hadn't come back since and she wondered if it had been something she'd done or said to him.

There was a knock on the door and her heart leapt. It couldn't be…

"Hey there, it's me!" a familiar voice called from behind the door and a smile crossed Serenity's lips.

"Mai! Come in!" she said happily and the sometimes rather brash woman strolled in, dressed quite garishly in a low cut red strap top and tight pair of jeans. Considering the weather hadn't been so good lately, Serenity was amazed the older woman wasn't frozen.

"Serenity, you're looking so much better. Joey was going nuts over you. Anyway, I'm glad I get to see you on your own. Care for a girlie chat?" Mai breezed, taking a seat beside Serenity's bed.

Serenity had got her wish.

"You're on, but prepare to fall over from either laughter or shock," she said with a small smile.

* * *

Kaiba was once again in his office within the Kaiba Corp, but again hadn't the heart or anger to fire employees. Instead, he went thoroughly through papers concerning the company, signing here, adding harsh messages there and generally being the hard-headed businessman he could be when he wanted.

He was depressed.

Even since that conversation with Serenity, he had been mixed up inside. He wanted to see her so much, but knew he couldn't go back to that hospital. He couldn't face her anymore, though really he knew the person he couldn't face was himself, the self deep down inside that loved Serenity. It was something he couldn't admit to anyone, even if Mokuba behaved as if he'd already worked it out. Kaiba didn't know for certain whether Mokuba was just trying to wheedle it out of him, or he'd actually worked it out. Kaiba realised how similar Mokuba was to him; hiding one's feelings was a Kaiba trait. He decided that Mokuba appeared to act openly, but hid so much inside – it was all a projection. People didn't see the unhappy Mokuba, or the angry Mokuba – all they saw was the cheery him. Kaiba guessed he just projected something different to Mokuba – arrogance, aversion and incapability to love. Inside though… well, since Serenity had come into his life, it had all been messed up. For better or worse though… Kaiba didn't want to think about it. He was quickly becoming to hate the implications of love.

Because even as he sat in his office and avoided Serenity at all costs, he still was thinking of her and wishing he could help her in any way he could. He'd already guessed that she wanted Bakura to get brought in as soon as possible and was going to bring the police to the mansion to investigate and provide them with all the CCTV footage he had of the man. However, the millennium item aspect of the problem that was Bakura was going to probably put off the police. Tea had purposely followed Kaiba when he'd attended college and explained how the police were a little reluctant to pursue the case due to 'inconsistencies'. In other words, their inability to explain exactly what had happened without involving off-putting words like 'magic'. Kaiba understood, though he hadn't bought into the whole magic thing either until he saw Serenity in Bakura's arms and that strange light…

Kaiba had decided he was going to call in a private inquiry of his own. Money made the world go around after all…

He would call in a private investigator this evening and give them as much information as he could, along with a healthy dose of cash. Mokuba would probably make some comments on how helpful Kaiba was being, with that annoying cheeky smile on his face. Though this past week, Mokuba had hardly been around and when he had he'd been strangely subdued…

Kaiba shook his head. So his brother was quiet. He should be glad the teenager had shut up for once, though he couldn't help but feel concern. Mokuba would surely tell him when he was good and ready, though it was probably something completely innocuous.

He pressed a button on the intercom.

"Yes, sir?" his secretary worriedly replied and Kaiba expelled a breath in annoyance.

"I've had enough of today. Anything important, then call my mobile. But it better be important, or else I'll summon the effort to fire people," he snapped, his restlessness growing. He had to get out of here and _do_ something, though what, he hadn't a clue.

"Alright, sir," the woman said and he got up. Swiftly placing papers he wanted to have a look at later in his briefcase, he gathered his things together and left for the car park where his Jaguar sat. Opening up his car door, he looked at the blue-grey sky where clouds were beginning to drift over Domino. It didn't look good. Kaiba came to a decision and sat down. He hadn't paid a visit to Kaiba Land since his less than appropriate behaviour.

With an aggravated sigh, he sped out of Kaiba Corp's car park and out onto the road, wondering when Serenity was going to get out of hospital. A part of him dreaded having to see her again when he felt like he did. He couldn't… he just couldn't tell her.

Could he?

* * *

Mai had told Serenity all about how she'd accepted Joey's offer to 'go out sometime' and how they'd hit it off. Serenity was so glad they were happy. Serenity had even explained the situation between herself and Kaiba, and Mai hadn't gagged or told her to ditch him – she been surprisingly attentive and had some kindly words, which took a great weight of Serenity. The worry Serenity had had of her friends revolting at the idea of shrewd cold-hearted Kaiba liking Serenity in any way. Mai was helping Serenity have the courage to tell others, though Tristan and Tea must have some terrible ideas after seeing what Kaiba did to her… not that they had mentioned that to anyone, from what Serenity knew. And mentally thanked them for. If Joey ever heard of that, he'd in all probability explode. Serenity decided to leave those more concerning thoughts alone in favour of turning to Mai.

Right now, Mai was smiling at her, though now Serenity looked closer, it seemed to be wavering worryingly.

"Mai, are you okay?" she hesitantly asked and the blonde woman finally gave in.

"I can't believe I've fallen in love with that repugnant oaf!" she cried theatrically, her face buried into her hands as she laid her head on the bed, her long wavy blonde hair splayed about her. Serenity couldn't help but feel a little annoyed at Mai insulting her brother, though what she said was kind of true…

"Don't worry, Mai. I'm sure he feels the same way as you," she said kindly, but a sneaky part of her mind giggled at the idea of Joey thinking of Mai as such a complicated (for him) word as 'repugnant'.

"I think Kaiba might _need_ me or something. We haven't spoken for a week and it's driving me and Mr. Bamako insane! It's not fair on Mr. Bamako, but the best I can do right now is to continue developing the project on my own. He's so damn remote! I have no idea what Kaiba is doing. But somewhere inside of me tells me he needs me; on the project, to find out what Bakura's up to… and maybe even something else," Serenity confessed to Mai and the woman raised her perfectly shaped eyebrows, her violet eyes attentive to the demure brown eyed girl before her.

"_Really_? Hmm, I never thought of Kaiba needing anyone…" she mulled, her hand unconsciously moving to her chin as she thought aloud and Serenity's eyes sparkled as a theory formed in her mind.

"Perhaps, Mai, that's when he needs people the most," she leant forward and whispered, feeling like she'd finally hit the jackpot. A small smile appeared on her face, lighting it up with realisation. Mai gave the younger woman a measuring look, wondering how close Serenity really had got to Kaiba. She seemed to have sussed the billionaire out surprisingly quickly, but a part of Mai found it difficult to imagine that Kaiba needed anyone. The cold businessman always appeared to deal with any problems he had just fine on his own, so to picture Serenity helping Kaiba at all was… a strange thought.

"Serenity… I'm amazed you got through to that man. I'm glad you seem quite happy, considering he's being an ass right now. But please, be careful. Promise me, Serenity," Mai suddenly became concerned for Serenity. The poor girl had been through so much recently and Mai didn't want the girl to suffer any more traumas - especially at the hands of Seto Kaiba. And plus, this relationship may well upset Joey and Mai didn't want Joey hurt if it could be helped.

"I promise, Mai," Serenity said resolutely before her face broke out into a relaxed smile. She felt so much better getting this off of her chest.

"Good. You know you're sitting on a ticking time bomb, kid," Mai shook her head sadly, but a small smile peeked through a shower of wavy blonde hair. Serenity sighed heavily and fell back into her pillows.

"I know. I don't want to think about it anymore until I'm out of here," she moaned, closing her eyes only to replay the last conversation she'd had with Kaiba. It had been… so tentative, but Serenity had felt so glad that he was there, that he understood that their argument was just stupid words… She wished he'd come back. He said he would, but she understood why he didn't. He could never accept others into his life – he'd fought against her coming onto the business project and his life tooth and nail.

Her hand began to play with the ring that had mysteriously been on her finger when she'd come to in hospital. She immediately recognised it as Kaiba's mother's ring that she admired what felt like so long ago. She had no idea why it was on her finger, but she knew that it had something to do with whatever Bakura had done to her. It was funny how comforting the thing was and how it reminded her of Kaiba, which was why she was turning it in her fingers now. Still, she wondered why Kaiba had put it on her finger. For a little while, she thought that maybe someone else had put it on, but she quickly dismissed the notion. It had to have been him – he wouldn't have let anyone touch it, she was sure. But why? A frustrated sigh escaped her lips as she admired the ring, and she forced her thoughts away from a question that wasn't going to be answered right then.

Serenity instead thought about how she was glad that Mai had listened to her and that she wasn't going to tell Joey about what was going on. A slight twinge of angst in her heart made her feel guilty over concealing things from Joey and the pain he'd already gone through because of his hatred for Kaiba. She was tired. Mai watched Serenity put the ring back on her finger and snuggle down into her bed to rest.

"You're going to sleep?" Mai asked and Serenity gave a small nod. Mai patted the girl's hand and stood.

"I better be going. I've got to meet up with Joey. I'll see you soon, Serenity," she said and with one last look and smile, she was gone. Serenity closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, her thoughts and dreams firmly centred on one man.

* * *

The man Serenity was dreaming about was sitting in a chair with a surly expression on his handsome features, trying (and failing) to ignore his younger brother. Mokuba had finally got home from school, though had taken some hour to do so, making Kaiba wonder what the teenager had been up to. Still, he wasn't in the mood to question Mokuba; in fact he wasn't in the mood to do anything. In _fact_ he was quite possibly nearing depressed. CEO's didn't get depressed, of course – they got crabby, withdrawn and trigger-happy with terminating people's contracts, but never exactly depressed. They just channelled it into anger. And right now, with Mokuba buzzing by his ear in an attempt to cheer his older brother up, he was beginning to get back into the swing of being angry.

"… And then he said to me 'Why did you do that?' and I just sat there with a smile and my arms folded - just like you - and replied 'Because you needed that stick removed from your ass' and I swear his face went through the entire rainbow!" Mokuba cackled and Kaiba had finally had enough of Mokuba's 'stories'.

"Mokuba!" he snapped, glowering dangerously into Mokuba's blue-grey eyes. The teenager was silenced, but he couldn't just stop talking to his brother when he clearly needed to talk about something he was bottling up inside.

"Seto… this is all about Serenity, isn't it?" he began, but Kaiba was silent, his eyes staring straight ahead at the wall of his home office where the memory of a kiss with Serenity lingered. Kaiba was wishing he hadn't picked this room to brood in because the whiteness and light reflecting off the metal worktop that was covered in tinkered computer equipment was beginning to give him a migraine.

"You should visit her," Mokuba persisted, but Kaiba sighed heavily and finally faced his brother, his features washed out. He was tired of dealing with the Serenity situation that day.

"I can't. I don't want to talk to her. It was my fault she got hurt, Mokuba. I can't see her… laid up in hospital like that. Her injury would not have occurred should I have been more… truthful. And that's all I'm going to say on the matter. Leave me be, Mokuba," Kaiba said with gritted teeth. It took all of his resolve to confess that much to his younger brother. He never liked to admit himself in the wrong, but this time… it couldn't be avoided. Even worse, he _cared_ that he had been at fault. He didn't want to be responsible for laying someone he cared about in hospital. And now he wanted to sit alone and think, but Mokuba was like a boomerang at the best of times. When the teenager saw his brother in trouble, he stuck to him like glue.

Mokuba nodded his head thoughtfully at Kaiba's admitted omission and tried to think of things they could do together to brighten Kaiba's day. Mokuba was sure if he took an optimistic attitude that his brother would be sure to lighten up a little. He could almost feel himself slip into old habits from years ago. Mokuba did love to try and help Kaiba, misguided as it tended to be. Mokuba strongly believed in force-feeding his brother cheer until he goddamn cheered up.

"Well, let's do something to brighten your day! We could play computer games!" Mokuba said exuberantly, standing to leave the office in search of the latest releases.

"No." Kaiba's voice deadpanned, leaving the room in an uncomfortable silence that pervaded for a minute while Mokuba thought of something else to do. He decided to inject a little tried and tested whininess into his voice for effect.

"Aw, come on – let's go to Kaiba Land!" his voice grated and Kaiba felt his head blossom into a full blown migraine that made him grit his jaw tight and ball his fists. The memory of the last time Kaiba was at Kaiba Land made his eye twitch slightly and didn't help sell Mokuba's idea at all.

"_No_."

"What about-"

"Mokuba! Get _out_!" The force and vehemence of his brother's command was enough to get Mokuba to finally give up and leave. That didn't mean he wasn't going to try again later. But first, Mokuba had some other things to deal with that involved his own life. The life that no-one seemed to be interested in, but Mokuba liked it that way.

A small grin flitted across his lips as he threw on a coat and headed out. He did try to help Kaiba, but sometimes he was convinced his brother was a lost cause.

Was Kaiba always going to sit in the rain?

* * *

The park in which a rather drunk Kaiba had once encountered Serenity was suffering a slight drizzle of rain. On another bench, somewhere near the medium sized duck pond, a bedraggled man sat. His white hair hung messily to his shoulders and his dark eyes gleamed altogether too menacingly, with a slight animal like light in them that put off any passers-by from going near him.

Bakura was not pleased. He had lost that precious ring in his escape from Kaiba's mansion and now he had nothing. A meddler in hospital. A pawn in game she didn't understand recovering in hospital. Two victims Bakura couldn't help but wished had suffered a little more. The girl though would still prove useful once she was out of hospital.

Bakura was getting tenser with each day lost to him. There had been bickering since recently Ryou was finding strength and trying to fight back, but was easily put down. Still, it was an irritating thing to deal with when you're between a seriously harmful blow to an enemy's head, and a killing blow. That had been enraging for Bakura.

Still, no-one knew he had attacked Yugi and he hated that. He wanted to broadcast it – he almost killed that insufferable Yami-Yugi housed within the shrimp's body!

A brief stirring of Ryou in his mind made him growl and he stood, storming out of the park to a safer location to plan what was to happen in the future. He couldn't let this plan fail now. Ryou was constantly buzzing in his head, but he was able to get it down to a bare whisper. Still, he surged on occasion in one outburst before being quietened again and it somewhat clouded his thought and irritated him to no end.

Mumbling to himself and making people shy from him, he disappeared into the main body of the town of Domino and left behind the pall of foreboding in his wake.

* * *

Joey sat in the small room the police had escorted him to when he had come to officially report his sister and friend's assaults. It should have been done earlier, he mused, but they had all been so worried about the two of them… the police had sort of looked into it, but he wanted to properly put across his story to them in the hope it would motivate them into some more action. Joey wanted this thing sorted, so his sister was safe from crazed weirdoes the mentally disturbed Bakura was.

He paused a moment to curse that stupid Millennium item for ruining Bakura's mental well-being and began tapping his foot as the stress began to build. His baby sister in danger – it was too much for an overprotective brother like himself. He was jerked out of his thoughts when a kindly policeman entered with a reassuring smile and took a plastic seat opposite Joey, who was looking the worse for wear after the stress he'd endured. His messy blond hair was an explosion since having a hand constantly run through it day after day since Serenity and Yugi's attacks. His usually bright brown eyes looked worn with poor sleeping and his dishevelled clothes only added to the overall distressed look.

"You are Mr. Joey Wheeler, yes?" the man asked and Joey nodded.

"Good. My name is Officer Dubenko. You are here to report attacks on a Miss Serenity Wheeler and Mr. Yugi Moto, am I right?" Officer Dubenko questioned and Joey nodded again, trepidation tensing his stomach. He wasn't sure what to say to the man, as he didn't know the full story of what happened. He just wanted to _help_ in some way.

"Yeah," Joey managed to say and Dubenko gave another reassuring smile.

"All you need to do is tell me what you can, and we will do all we can to help on the case. We've already had Mr. Kaiba's statement taken, since he was the first person on the scene of your sister's attack," Dubenko explained and a brief feeling of anger burned through him. Kaiba not looking after his sister and leaving her to be attacked. He didn't think he could forgive Kaiba for that. He was sure if she hadn't been alone, or in better company she would have been safe.

"Yeah, sure, Officer. Well, Serenity told me 'bout it – 'bout Bakura attacking her and all. Well, I know Bakura better than Seren does. He's a good guy, but in the last five years… well, you see there's this cursed item and… you must think I'm mad," Joey flatly stopped talking and the office watched him contemplatively.

"I don't think you're mad, but I must say that what you were beginning to tell me sounded pretty unbelievable," Dubenko said, his lips pressing together making him look uncertain. He looked at Joey, seeming to measure him up before sighing.

"Tell me what you know about this Ryou Bakura that seems to be on a lot of people's lips at the moment. We can't let him terrorise the people of Domino. People are worried," Dubenko reasoned and Joey nodded. He decided to… alter the truth slightly to get his point across, otherwise he'd be laughed out of the building, he was sure by Officer Dubenko's earlier speech. It _was_ pretty out there.

"Well, Bakura had some… mental problems five years back. We tried to help him and he went to a place in Tokyo to get better, but… he musta escaped or somethin' to be here now and in this state. Maybe you should check up on that," Joey suggested and Dubenko nodded.

"Yes, that would be very helpful. Do you know the name of the facility," he said eagerly, his notepad and pen poised.

"Uh… Shinjuku Welfare Facility, if I remember right," Joey said slowly, the weight on his chest lightening slightly. This should be able to help bring Bakura down and get him the help he needed. And protect his friends. And Mai. He was meant to meet up with Mai today, wasn't he?

"Thank you. But do you know anything about Yugi Moto's attack? Who may have done it – anything?" Dubenko pressed and Joey shrugged. They wouldn't know anything for sure until Yugi woke up, which hopefully would be soon before Grandpa Moto had a nervous breakdown.

"… I don't really know anything about it. The best people to ask would be my friends Tristan Taylor and Tea Gardener. They were the first people that got to Yugi," said Joey with a sinking feeling in his stomach. Was this case ever going to get anywhere? The only hope they had was Bakura being found and his illusiveness wasn't doing them any favours. Officer Dubenko nodded and stood up.

"Thank you for your help, Mr. Wheeler. We'll call you if something comes up. Don't hesitate to call us if you have any information," the man finished with a shake of Joey's hand and showed Joey out.

Joey immediately headed for college where he planned to meet up with Mai. He didn't mind walking for twenty minutes, since he wasn't exactly rich at the moment and was devoid of a car, because of the lack of money and all.

The scenery was boring and not worth commenting upon and Joey had a tendency not to really look where he was going and so it was no surprise when he almost hit a fire hydrant. He quickly dodged, swiftly catching his dignity before anyone saw and purposefully jumped over the foot high brick wall that surrounded college.

With a smile, he approached the wavy blonde haired woman who stood looking as beautiful as ever.

* * *

"Mai?" said a voice and Mai turned to come face to face with Joey Wheeler. A grin appeared on his face and Mai rolled her eyes, but gave a smile of her own.

She sighed and wished her heart would stop fluttering every time she saw that goof. How could she have fallen in love with him without being mentally disturbed? Mai cursed as she realised her mind wasn't even playing along with insulting Joey with its usual vigour and she sighed again. She had to stop with the sighing.

"Hey there," she said and linked arms with him before marching him out of college and towards the bustling town centre.

"We're going to the nearest café before I starve to death," she added, her grip on his arm turning to a death lock and Joey helplessly traipsed along with her. She grinned to see him follow her willingly, but with a pained look on his face. He really was such a puppy sometimes.

"Aw, Maiii!" he whined as they disappeared around a corner.

Neither noticed the figure watching them in a calculating manner before making his own exit from the college grounds. He briefly ground his teeth as he departed, trying to think things through as best as he could when his mind was buzzing with that incessant voice that irritated him so. Things were afoot again and had to be taken into hand before he was cornered. He wasn't going down yet.

* * *

AN: Another chapter complete. This one was difficult – I found it so hard to write. I just wasn't in the right frame of mind and with exams building at the time I was writing it just made things worse for me. So I apologise if this isn't my best. I also apologise if there are some spelling mistakes, but my beta was LAZY (he's my brother) and didn't finish checking it to the deadline. But anyway, exams are nearly over, leaving plenty of time to catch up on my More Than Business writing, which needs to be done. But before I leave, gentle folk, I shall give you a sneak peek at the next chapter. (Grand unveiling) I present to you, _Coming Home_. All I'm telling you about it is… lessee… Serenity finally gets to leave hospital and we'll finally see what becomes of poor Yugi. And to hook people – Mokuba confesses something to Seto. What, I hear you cry! But alas, I cannot tell. All shall be revealed. I give my love to you all and depart on this (peers out of window) thunderstormy day. 


	16. Coming Home

AN: I bid you good evening and begin this with a sincere apology for my tardiness. I am really sorry. It was a mixture of having a slight case of writer's block, losing my desire to write for a while, some family issues and general lethargy on my part. And for that, I apologise. Hopefully I will keep up in future! But now to the peeps!

LiLgUrL: I guessed it was the internet's fault. It always is paranoidly glares at internet cable. I am SO glad you love my story! I was a bit presumptuous to assume you loved it, but luckily it paid off! Thanks for reviewing!

Didihoney: (Will always think of you as Didihoney, apologies) I'm sorry for taking an eternity to update (I know what it's like for the fanfics I wait to be updated). Hopefully you shall enjoy what I have cooked up… typed up… Okay, I'll just shut up. Thanks!

Nathifa Femi: Thank you for reviewing, but I explained previously that Bakura's motives will in good time be revealed and I shall not divulge (except to my brother, formerly my Beta before I became my own Beta – is that even possible? – who doesn't really care) the answers. Bakura's actions are the actions of a man possessed, heh heh.

Maelgwyn-violetstar: Thanks for the review – you're about to see what Mokuba is going to confess to! Hope you like it – to be frank, it's nothing mega dramatic, etc.

Meowth's Toon Dragon: Cool name! I love it! I really like the idea of heart vs power… a very interesting a philosophical thought indeed… thank you for your contribution!

Darkhope: Thanks! However, of course this isn't Joey/Mai centric, but this chapter does seem to feature a lot of them…

Dreamerz Angel: Another new reviewer! I'm so glad more of you are reviewing! I wouldn't say I was great – I consider my Final Fantasy VII and Advent Children work to be my best, to be honest, but I do love writing this story. This review really warmed my heart to read, so thank you so much!

Sangha: Thank you for R&Ring – I kinda love drunken Kaiba too, but couldn't use him too often in fear of making him too OOC. Ah, well. I also try to bring quality goods to my stories, so I'm glad you like it.

xxxChIhArUxxx: I love your enthusiasm! I wish I had your energy, but I'm apathetic by nature. Always happy when people add me to favourites. Thanks for the review!

Kaibasquallsgirl07: (Once more, I will always think of you by Kaibasquallsgirl07) Being English, I don't celebrate the Fourth of July, but I am very aware of it and accept all seasons greetings! I am thoroughly impressed you re-read my entire story to date – I'm the kind of person who finds it difficult to re-read my own stuff unless I've given it enough time so I've forgotten exactly what I wrote and can be (sometimes) pleasantly surprised. You're about to see Yugi's fate and I can confess that Joey is in no imminent danger, so yay for Joey! I'm afraid Kaiba won't talk to Serenity until the next chapter, so hold on just a little longer! Seriously – the 'here's a doughnut' routine could work! If it were me, I'd be like 'Sure! Gimme!' but then again I really like my cake products. They're yummy. Also the dentist joke ROCKS! I'm a sucker for jokes like that. Sigh Thank you a lot for your review and hope you like this chapter!

PS – I am okay and I apologise for making you review me again just to ask if I was alright! Thank you for asking – I was touched!

Miss Artemis: Heh heh… Mokuba is a rather guilty one, isn't he? Things are slowly coming apart and moving along, perhaps slower than people like, but… that's the pace I work at. Hope you enjoy this chapter and sorry for the wait. Thanks!

Setoxserenity4eva: Hope you're enjoying my story and thank you!

Phew – so many! I'm so happy! But now I present to you (cue dramatic music)…

**Chapter Sixteen: Coming Home**

The morning began for Serenity with great promise as the doctors hummed and examined her for a bit before finally declaring that she was fit to leave the hospital, providing she took it easy. That was more than fine with her – she had no intention in participating in a marathon any time soon and the only work she had was the project.

And thinking about the project only made her lament on the progress of the project, how Mr. Bamako must be weeping over the grant money they may have lost if the presentation wasn't completed and Kaiba. Kaiba… was something Serenity still felt up in the air about. She was worrying over whether he wanted to see her again, since he hadn't come by and she hadn't heard a word from him in some time. She wished that he was thinking of her, but wishful thinking never got anyone anywhere.

Now she was attempting to pack, while Joey kept trying to make her sit down and let him deal with it. She would have accepted on other occasions, but being in bed for so long and doing little to nothing made packing the height of entertainment. That and knowing Joey's style of packing, all of her things would be crammed into a case and require an eternity of ironing. And no amount of cooping up would make ironing appeal to her.

So she stood with a pale pink dressing gown, folding and safely storing her clothes away. She did have some help with Mai, who had come along to help, but the woman didn't know what to do half the time, so Serenity found it easier to work solo than have Mai get into the way. She meant well and Serenity was glad that people were thinking of her. Just after the doctors had sufficiently poked and prodded her to determine she could leave, Tea and Trystan had popped in to check up on her before heading off to stay with Yugi.

Yugi. Serenity paused in her packing as the memory of yesterday's visit to her comatose friend. She was allowed a visitation and he… it had upset her to see him that way. It also scared her terribly. She couldn't bear the thought that Yugi may not wake up – it couldn't possibly be considered for a moment. Serenity was determined to hold onto her hope until every possibly was extinguished. The doctors were still being quite positive about Yugi's chances of recovery.

Serenity quickly finished her packing, her heart tightening with the urge to see Yugi and check he was alright. She just wished so hard that he would wake up – she couldn't even begin to comment on how useless it was, but her mind craved for Yugi's recovery by wishes and magic anyway. A sigh escaped her and Joey turned to study his sister.

"You alright, Seren?" he asked, his brows furrowing slightly when he saw how unhappy she looked. Serenity wordlessly nodded and finally shut her case, glad she was free to pay her friend a visit before escaping the confines of the hospital.

"Can I see Yugi before we go?" Serenity asked and Joey immediately nodded, but once more scrutinised his sister.

"Sure, but not dressed like that. Mai and I brought ya some clothes for a reason, ya know," said Joey and Mai stood and handed over a bag to Serenity. Peering inside it revealed a pair of her best jeans and a decent emerald t-shirt with a pair of half concealed trainers beneath. The thought of getting out of the hospital and seeing Yugi spurred her on into the nearest bathroom to change. She didn't even feel any pain from Bakura's attack anymore – the occasional peculiar twinge in her head was all she felt and even that had diminished in its intensity.

Changed, and with brushed hair and a half-hearted smile, for this wasn't the happiest day for her, Serenity returned to her brother and Mai. The two were looking a little too cosy for her liking, a selfish part of her nagging that they should be focusing on her and Yugi, but let it go.

"Can we go see Yugi now?" Serenity asked and the couple broke apart, Joey with a sheepish smile.

"Ah, uh – sure! Let's go right now," said Joey rather hurriedly, his face reddened and Serenity suppressed a giggle. It amused her that Joey would get embarrassed over this when a public fight with Seto Kaiba stirred not even the slightest hint of shame, something she had personally found mortifying.

They walked the ascetic white corridors, Serenity listlessly glancing into the door windows as she passed while she tried not to dwell too much on how Yugi was. She hoped he looked alright, otherwise she didn't think she could take the sight.

Joey watched his sister anxiously. She was still technically recovering and he was always overprotective of his baby sister. To see the distress she was valiantly trying to cover up only made his protectiveness worse, to the point Mai was sure he was just going to lock her into their apartment to keep her safe.

Finally they reached the room and Serenity froze at the door, a choking irrational fear gripping her. She knew Yugi wasn't going to be disfigured or something, yet to see him in such a poor condition…

She took in a shaky breath and jumped when a hand fell on her shoulder. Snapping her head to the right, she relaxed when Joey gave her a reassuring smile. Mai came up beside her and linked arms and Serenity began to return to normal and recover her strength.

'_I can do this. I'm not afraid,'_ she told herself and reached out, opening the door.

He looked so frail in that large bed. Yugi's head was still bandaged – Joey had informed her that he had received eighteen stitches and a fractured skull from the blow he received to his head. The IV line, the tube in his nose – it was a nightmarish sight to her eyes. Some part of her felt like she was responsible for his injury, but she had no proof. The only claim she could make was that they were injured on the very same night and she didn't believe in coincidences.

"Yugi… I'm sorry," she managed to whisper before exiting the room and covering her face. She couldn't look upon him. Joey and Mai exchanged worried looks before gently linking arms with Serenity again and taking her home.

* * *

Kaiba wondered for a minute when Serenity was getting out of the hospital and hoped that she was better, despite still resolutely refusing to see her. Like Serenity with Yugi, Kaiba simply couldn't bear to face her. The blame still hung about him, making him rather bad tempered at work and college and adding to his reputation as a cold hearted, angry young man.

At that moment it was almost midday and he was in his living room working from home as it wasn't a college day. He was grousing about his laptop under his breath, which was behaving in a most un-laptop manner. Kaiba was certain electrical equipment didn't have lives of their own, but the way the piece of junk was behaving he was having a hard time refuting it.

"Damn you!" he cursed loudly, sick and tired of things not working out how he wanted and gave the thing a pound with his fist in an attempt to work some of his anger out. A washed out sigh later and his shut it, leaving it on the desk and taking a seat on the couch. Just as he was finally about to relax, the door opened and Mokuba came in, looking more restless than usual. Kaiba was sure from his brother's look that he was going to tell him something that was going to make him angry and resigned himself to ignoring the boy with a 'keep away' scowl.

Mokuba recognised the signs immediately and sprang into action by coming closer and narrowing his eyes at his older brother.

"Seto… Seto, listen to me!" Mokuba cried petulantly, frowning at his scowling brother. Kaiba sighed heavily and returned to lethargically slumping in his chair while his brother sat next to him looking almost worried, something Mokuba rarely expressed.

"Seto… I think you've been worrying on occasion that I like Serenity as much as you like Serenity. And… maybe I do – BUT not in that way, okay! I think… I see her like that sister I kinda wanted," he explained, watching Kaiba for a reaction. Kaiba faced his brother with a questioning eyebrow.

"You wanted a sister?" he asked, his nose wrinkling slightly at the idea. It was the Kaiba brothers, not with some tag along sister. He never knew that Mokuba wanted another sibling. It rang strangely in Kaiba's head.

"That was it?" Kaiba asked with a slight unimpressed curling of his lip. If Mokuba had wasted his time to simply tell him _that_ then the boy would live to regret it.

Mokuba fidgeted, clearly uncomfortable, and turned his blue-grey eyes away from Kaiba's penetrating gaze. Kaiba hadn't seen Mokuba like this in some time. The boy simply didn't get stressed, or never let anything bother him. And whatever this problem was, it was bothering the teenager.

"You see… there's this girl at school and… and she's kinda cool…" Mokuba haltingly began and Kaiba's interest was perked. He wondered if what Mokuba was trying to tell him was what he thought it was and a smirk began to form on his lips. He had needed a welcome relief from stress today and it looked like his younger brother was the ticket.

"'Cool'?" Kaiba pressed, trying to reign in his evil mirth filled laughter, and Mokuba rolled his eyes and frowned. He still avoided his brother's questioning gaze, firmly focusing his eyes on the nearby mantelpiece and Mokuba found his frustration with Kaiba grow.

"You know what I mean! Do you remember Rebecca Hopkins?" Mokuba asked and Kaiba briefly furrowed his brow as he remembered a small mouthy girl from America who was a Duelling protégé, or so it was publicised. But didn't she go back to America? Kaiba didn't remember, or care back then.

"That mouthy American girl? Why is she in your school?" Kaiba asked and Mokuba flashed his brother a ferocious scowl that almost made Kaiba proud.

"She's not mouthy!" he rebuked hotly and Kaiba smirked. His brother was a little too quick to defend her with that tone. Kaiba supposed his brother really did have it bad, "Anyway, her grandfather stayed here and so she stayed too. That's why she's in my school, Seto. Rebecca is… I like her. And I'm not sure what to do about it. She doesn't really… I don't know. She goes out with me but if I do the slightest thing, she flips out and punches me."

Mokuba pulled back a sleeve to reveal a blooming purple and green tinged bruise on his upper arm and Kaiba's smirk widened and soon turned into an evil chuckle.

"Perhaps violence is how she expresses her love," Kaiba suggested while trying not to break out into full blown evil laughter and Mokuba threw his brother a dirty look.

"Not the way she glares at me as if she's trying to kill me with her eyes," Mokuba replied darkly, massaging his bruise briefly before pulling his sleeve back down. Kaiba paused to reflect on this development and found his heart felt infinitely lighter. The thought that Mokuba potentially had a romantic interest in Serenity had weighed somewhat on him, even if Kaiba tended not to address the issue.

He was just about to dryly comment on Mokuba's choice of love interest when a ringing sound from Mokuba's trousers distracted him. Mokuba yanked his phone out and casually flipped it open, his face becoming slightly bored.

"Mokuba here," he answered, standing and beginning to slowly pace around the room as he listened. Kaiba stood and planned to leave for his home office when a gasp from Mokuba halted him and he turned to face his brother.

"What! Okay – I'll be right down. Bye." Mokuba hurriedly snapped his phone shut, jammed it in his pocket and locked eyes with Kaiba.

"That was Tea - I have to get down to the hospital," he explained, heading for the door and Kaiba stopped his with an iron grip to the shoulder. Emotion once more gripped Kaiba, fear for Serenity. Had she got out of the hospital? Surely Mokuba would tell him if something had happened to her?

"What is going on?" Kaiba growled and Mokuba shook out of Kaiba's grip and flashed a brief glare before calming down.

"It's Yugi…"

* * *

"Serenity!" Joey charged into her bedroom without a thought, "Yugi's just woken up!"

Serenity's eyes went wide, then an instant later she was up from her chair, book dropped to the floor, and running out of the room past her brother and stuffing her feet into her trainers and grabbing her jacket off a peg by the front door.

"We have to go see him right away!" thundered Serenity and all Joey could do was comply with his sister's forceful demand.

"Okay sure. It looks good, Seren, so don't get too worked up. Tea, Tristan and Mokuba were there when he woke up. I got the call from Tea – she seemed real… I dunno, happy, but kinda upset," Joey explained, but Serenity was too fired up to listen as she grabbed the door key and opened the door to leave.

Nothing was going to stop her from finding out who had done this to one of her best friends and making them pay.

* * *

The journey wasn't as rushed as Serenity desperately wished it had been. They had no way to get there quickly, so it was public transport all the way. The bus stop was a street away, which took a few minutes. More precious minutes were lost waiting for the bus to arrive. Nearly twenty minutes later, Serenity's patience was almost spent and she found her fingers tapping a little violently on her leg as the bus slowly reached the stop closest to the hospital.

Serenity rushed Joey along once off the bus, ignoring her quickly tiring legs. She wasn't used to rushing about after spending every minute in the hospital taking things slow. Kaiba helping her along, holding her, flashed in her mind and a small wistful smile flickered on her lips before disappearing. She couldn't think of that now. They had to get to Yugi.

"Stop tugging me, Seren. We'll get there in good time," Joey protested, but she ignored him. He didn't complain again and just speeded up to comply with her.

Five minutes later Serenity rushed into Yugi's room to find those violet eyes open and a small, slightly weak, smile on Yugi's face. She couldn't believe the sight was real for a moment.

"Yugi! Thank God you're alright!" Serenity threw herself at Yugi, who raised his arms to defend his throbbing head. She regained her composure, halting before doing any damage and relaxed, giving her friend a smile instead.

"Sorry. I'm just so glad you're awake. But please… you have to tell us who did this," she pleaded, her brown eyes both insistent and hardened all in one go. Yugi frowned, his mind still muddled from his injuries. Still, he could recall the slightly fuzzy last minutes before being struck. He couldn't forget that face blazing with fury and hatred.

"Bakura." It was all he could say, his voice croaky from a lack of use for some time. Serenity bit her lip to stop her from crying out. So it had been her fault that he was harmed. She still didn't understand… why was Bakura pursuing her so relentlessly? Why her – what did she ever do!

Her fists balled of their own accord and she stiffly nodded, her features hardening with anguish. Tea hovered beside the other side of Yugi's bed, her hand fluttering near his head while Tristan stood next to her, trying to be her pillar in the time of need.

"It couldn't be… he really did this to you, Yugi?" Tea asked, her face crumpling, and she found Tristan's arms around her.

Yugi found it stung to see Tea comforted by Tristan, but resigned himself to the fact that it looked like it could never be. Yami-Yugi stirred in his mind, equally groggy from the experience of being clubbed into a coma, but tried to soothe Yugi's mind.

His thoughts were shattered when the door clattered open and a breathless Mokuba almost fell into the room, his normally disarrayed hair even more wild. A grin was on his face at the sight of his friend awake and looking more or less okay considering what he had gone through.

"Tea called me," he finally said once he'd recovered his breath, "Good to see you awake. You had us all rather worried." His eyes briefly rested on Tea, who was still being comforted by Tristan, who gave the teenager a nod of hello. Mokuba flashed Tristan a smile before standing beside Serenity, who was watching him with an unusual amount of intensity. Joey noted this with interest, not understanding what was going on between the two.

Before further conversation could commence, the door opened again and a nurse came in, his brows furrowed as kindly as possible for a frown.

"I know you're all happy to see Yugi, but his grandfather has just arrived and the doctors need to perform tests on him to make sure he's alright. You're going to have to leave, I'm afraid," he informed them and the mood wavered. Slowly, they began to say their goodbye's and file out – Joey and Mai, Tea and Tristan, Mokuba and Serenity.

"I didn't know if you would come or not," Serenity began once they were in the main corridor and strolling in their pairs toward the exit. Mokuba glanced at the girl he would have as a sister and gave her a gentle smile. He felt like tinkering with the relationship that appeared to be deteriorating with the lack of interaction between the two. Plus, he liked getting himself involved in his brother's life – especially when he was being obstinate about seeing Serenity again.

"Of course. Yugi has been a really good friend to me. I care just as much as the rest of you," he replied with slight irritation in his voice and Serenity bit her lip for being a fool. Of course he cared as much as they did, but she did notice one thing…

"Couldn't Seto come? Or didn't he…?" she couldn't finish her sentence. He didn't care whether Yugi lived or died? Or something else, like her, perhaps? Mokuba sighed as they steered around a corner and continued on.

"He did care that Yugi was alright – not that he would exactly spit it out or anything – but he didn't want to bump into you. He's having a difficult time right now – I can see it in his eyes. He's barely spoken to me if he can help it since you got hurt. I just want the two of you to talk," he said, shoving his hands into his pockets. Serenity felt her heart swell and fall, her stomach shifting uncomfortably at the thought of Kaiba taking up being reclusive. She realised she really wanted to talk to him – they had so much to catch up on, both in work and… socially.

"Oh. I want to talk to him too, but… I don't think it will be possible," she quietly replied and Mokuba had instantly pulled his hands out of his pockets to put an arm around her. She had so much to think about and to do – college, the business project, Kaiba, Yugi, Bakura.

Bakura. They had to capture him somehow, but she wasn't sure what she would do if they did. She wasn't a violent person, yet the thought of repaying some of the hurt sounded a little too good in her mind. The two of them settled into a comfortable silence as they walked and Serenity felt lonely. She really did want to talk Kaiba, but she needed to find a window of opportunity.

Before she could dwell on it further, they had reached the hospital exit and everyone was gathered together in small talk.

Joey noticed how close Mokuba and Serenity seemed to be as he half listened to the conversation with Mai, Tristan and Tea he was supposed to be participating in. The other half of his attention was focused on his little sister, who was now talking with a focused expression on her face. Mokuba was listening with a serious expression on his face and nodding every so often. What was up with those two? He had to ask Mai later.

"Joey? Are you walking me home?" Mai suddenly caught his attention, her hand waving briefly in his face. He blinked and reflexively nodded.

"Uh, sure," he replied and turned to Serenity.

"You coming with us?" he asked and Mai rolled her eyes while Serenity suppressed a giggle. She silently shook her head.

"Mokuba kindly offered to walk me home, if that's alright." Serenity gave him a reassuring smile and Joey slowly relented, giving Mokuba a nod of approval. Still, Joey was wary of what was going on. Mai gently took his arm and began leading him away from the group out into the street.

"You're lucky I don't live too far from the hospital," she said with a teasing smile and Joey shrugged.

"Gives us more time together the further away you are," he replied with a suggestive twitch of his eyebrows and Mai gave a bark of laughter and a small playful shove, making him grin.

"And I'm sure you like to take advantage of poor innocent girls like myself, Mr. Wheeler." Mai smirked and Joey shook his head as if she was a lost case. Or possibly a nutcase, he wasn't sure sometimes.

"You're not innocent, Ms. Valentine."

Mai simply looked mock appalled and they continued on in silence for a while. Joey plucked up the courage to question Mai about what exactly was going on between Serenity and the Kaiba's, though he dreaded the answer.

"Mai… I gotta ask ya… why were Serenity and Mokuba talking like best friends? She looked really… I dunno… cosy or something," Joey finally asked Mai as they strolled along the quietly busy streets. Joey was sure the air was becoming stifling, but perhaps the dread of Mai's response was stressing him out too much. He only allowed his eyes to momentarily glance at her and was concerned by her sudden expression of concern, her teeth absentmindedly biting her lip.

"Well, you know… they're both good friends with Yugi. Plus they've seen a lot more of each other because of that project Serenity was working on, you know?" Mai replied distractedly and Joey frowned. He still hated the idea of Kaiba interacting at all with Serenity, but the credit she could gain from it would be wonderful. It was always going to be a balance between Serenity's success and his own happiness. It was selfish to want to still even now get her off the project, but the unnecessary torment Kaiba enjoyed putting him through would never be forgotten.

"You're not telling me all of it. What's going on between Kaiba and Serenity?" he pressed and Mai sighed.

"Well… you know they got to know each other over the time they've been spending together…" she began tentatively and Joey's eyes narrowed as he slowed his pace.

"Yeah, when me and Kaiba had a public fistfight. I'm sure they got to know each other great," Joey muttered angrily and Mai rolled her eyes again and kept Joey walking along with an irritated tug on his arm.

"They really like each other," she half mumbled and Joey's eyes blazed. In an instant he had spun to face her.

"Are they goin' out!" he snapped, possessed by his quest for knowledge and Mai ground her teeth. He had to find out some time or other.

"Yes."

The confession in Mai's clipped, angry tone was fierce – she was clearly furious at his behaviour. Joey couldn't believe the truth… even if some part of his had been suspecting it for a while now.

Still, the shock and fury of the confession still hit him hard.

"Kaiba and Serenity are WHAT!" Joey hollered and Mai felt Serenity's world come crashing down in blazing flames.

* * *

AN: I'm not 100 happy with this chapter, I must confess. The content is alright, but the writing I'm not so hot on. I wrote this on several different days far apart from one another and I always get concerned that this may not look seamlessly done when I do that. My former Beta always told me that my writing never seems disjointed, but I have that knowledge of how I wrote it and the paranoia that comes with that knowledge. I let you be the judges, friends. But finally… a sneak peak at chapter seventeen. It's name? _Reconciliation_. What'll happen? Well… things settle down. And Kaiba and Serenity will finally talk for the first time in ages. Hooray! Until next time folks! 


	17. Reconciliation

AN: With the new rules, I've had to place my responses elsewhere. Because of my internet access at the moment, that's my LiveJournal. To get to it, go to my author's page here and click on my homepage. Voila! Enjoy!

**Chapter Seventeen: Reconciliation **

Joey wasn't sure how much more he could take. His girlfriend just informed him that his sister was in cahoots with one evil billionaire, Seto Kaiba. The man who had dedicated every moment he had ever spent near Joey calling him everything under the sun that was a synonym for dog and loser. The man Joey hated pretty much above everyone else, save Bakura who had hurt his sister and one of his close friends and therefore could not be forgiven. He wasn't sure whether he was going to explode in anger, or simply break down, curl up in his room and never leave the flat again.

"Well… not exactly going out… I mean… Joey Wheeler! Listen to me when I'm talking to you!" Mai shouted and Joey's blazing eyes found themselves outdone but Mai's furious gaze.

"What?" he dumbly asked and Mai grabbed his collar.

"If you indicate to Serenity in any way of what you know, I will kill you. If you try to kill Kaiba, I will kill you. If you do anything with the knowledge I have just given you, so help me God, Joey Wheeler, I will never so much as _look_ at you again! Do you understand me?" Mai thundered and Joey was at a loss. What could he do? Trapped in a corner with nowhere to go – that's what she had done to him!

"Mai!" he whined, throwing his hands up in defeat, "Why didja tell me when you knew I hate Kaiba! What am I meant to do now? They're… they're… _doin'_ stuff and I… I need to go home," Joey replied and Mai cursed herself for blabbing. Sure, Kaiba and Serenity weren't going out per se, but it was only a matter of time. Serenity had basically confessed her love for Kaiba when she was in the hospital and Kaiba's behaviour was less than his usual cold self, from what Mai had gathered. It was too much for Mai to bear alone and the closest person to her – who was also questioning her on the nature of that very same relationship, she noted – was who she wanted to share everything with, even if it was painful for them. And, she mulled to herself, he _did_ have a right to know. Even if he was too pigheaded to support his sister, rather than set himself against her. She was adamant that her big mouth wasn't going to get Serenity in trouble – it was the last thing the poor girl needed after enduring the hospital she clearly hated being stuck in.

"Joey, listen to me. You could do Serenity harm by ranting on at her when she still recovering from just getting out of hospital. Please… promise me you won't say anything to her right now. You need to sort yourself out… you know, your emotions and stuff, before taking out all your hatred of Kaiba on Serenity," Mai said, biting her lip when she realised her voice was close to sounding like pleading. She didn't mind pleading on other's behalf, but the idea of begging for herself – especially to one Joey Wheeler – sickened her. No-one would hear Mai Valentine beg. Ever.

Joey frowned, but her words appeared to be sinking into his thick skull as his mouth immediately opened to retort, but closed. He didn't meet her eyes for a minute, for once lost in thought rather than immediately reacting to a situation. A heavy sigh escaped from him and he relented, his eyes meeting Mai's with resignation.

"… Okay, Mai. You got me. I'll do it for you and Serenity's sake. Just… is it alright if you walk home alone? I need some alone time to think for a while," he finally replied and Mai gave him a beautiful smile and a quick peck on the lips before disappearing across the street.

With a heavy heart, Joey made his way home.

&&&&&&&

Serenity relaxed as she entered her bedroom, nearly hurling herself onto her bed. The emotions of the day had got the best of her and now she was completely exhausted. She wanted to sleep but one thought kept her awake for hours.

Tomorrow she would be returning to her studies, which had been discarded this past week as she recovered. And that meant she would have to see Kaiba again. It was going to be awkward and strange after his behaviour – the brief visit in which he said he had halted the project for her, and then going on to stay away from her at all costs. Serenity had no idea how he was going to react to her reappearance. She understood that he couldn't bear to see her because he blamed himself for the injuries she sustained at the hands of Bakura, but now she was healed and more or less fine she worried he would still brush her off and refuse to acknowledge her. The fact that the project that Mr. Bamako had set them what felt like forever ago loomed was unsettling, especially since no work had been done on it for the week she had been in hospital because Kaiba halted the proceedings until she was well. A warm, fluttering feeling started in her stomach at that thought and a smile spread across her lips, lighting her face up. She liked to think back to when he confessed that.

Serenity sighed and looked at her clock. It was going on two in the morning. With a disgruntled groan she rolled onto her other side and squeezed her eyes shut.

'_All will be revealed tomorrow, so stop thinking and go to sleep!'_ she mentally commanded herself and refused to think of Kaiba no matter how often he drifted into the back of her mind. Forcefully she tried to sleep to no avail.

Another worry nagged at her – the way Joey had acted when he got home. She was surprised how deflated he had been once he got home when she was still pumped from Yugi regaining consciousness. Joey had looked at her funny when she asked him what was wrong before slinking into his room and only coming out to take some cold pizza for himself which disappeared into his room with him. Since then she had heard nothing of him, which concerned her greatly. She tossed and turned, her thoughts and fears making sleep an impossibility. A huffy sigh escaped her and she settled her eyes on the sliver of moonlight that poked between the gap in her curtains.

'_Calm… calm… I am perfectly calm…'_

Her breathing simply would not slow into a peaceful rhythm and Serenity had had enough. She kicked her covers off and sat at her desk, flicking her lamp on without a look while rifling through the leftover project papers she had. If she couldn't sleep, she was damn well going to make headway on the project before it was too late.

For Serenity Wheeler it was going to be a long night.

&&&&&&&&

Morning came when a loud shouting noise that may have been a bird outside her window or Joey outside her door. Whatever it may have been, Serenity gave a small gasp as her head shot up from the desk littered with papers, the left side of her face sore from being pressed against a wooden desktop for hours. And Serenity surmised she must have only got a few hours sleep as she squinted at her clock.

"Too early…" she mumbled while she dragged her body to the door. Serenity felt in no fit state to attempt thinking coherently, but she hoped a decent shower would wake her up. If she didn't have a sharp mind on her she could miss something in Business or, worse, miss a signal Kaiba may or may have not been giving, fail to pay attention to something he may have said that bore some importance. It wouldn't do to not be at her peak performance because otherwise she didn't believe she had the tolerance to endure Seto Kaiba and his less than sociable behaviour.

One shower later and Serenity found her hopes were not realised. A part of her still begged to sleep while the rest of her groaned from sleeping in an uncomfortable position, which the shower had failed to relieve.

Joey had not showed his face yet, which wasn't uncommon for this time of the morning, but still concerned Serenity. She had barely seen her brother yesterday evening and something was nagging her – instinct perhaps – that she had some part in it. After all, there was no-one else in their apartment to avoid… unless it was something else. But she couldn't be sure until she got to talk to him, which wouldn't be until the evening as she had class to attend. If all went well, she hoped she might even get to go to Kaiba's mansion. But that was a far flung wish she didn't think she would be able to reach that day. Another, perhaps.

Breakfast went down as well as cardboard might and she quickly packed her college things up, checking on Joey by listening close to his door for movement. She heard a mere hint of shuffling about and gave up on him when she saw she only had ten minutes to get to college.

Flying out of the door and down the stairs onto the street, saying that Serenity was panicking was an understatement. It took fifteen minutes to get to the college, ten if you were running without the baggage of folders and pencil cases. It wasn't looking good and Serenity knew it.

"I can't be late!" Serenity cried, checking her watch for the fourth time as she sprinted around a corner. She dodged a person coming the other way and continued on, her arms aching from hauling hers folders and pencil case.

"Hey there, Serenity! Wanna lift?" a voice called and she spun around, promptly losing her grip on her things and dropping them. She hurriedly scrambled around on the pavement, picking her things up. Finally she stood, smiling.

"Thank you, Mokuba. That would be most welcome," she tried to sound perfectly calm and controlled, but her flyaway hair and show of clumsiness did little to support her voice. Passer-by's began to avoid her and she gave them a frown before strolling over to Mokuba's car and hopping in.

"Serenity, you're looking a little… flustered," Mokuba commented as he sped off towards the college. Serenity paused for breath, slumping gratefully against the leather chair. She didn't have the energy to answer, so gave a grunt, eyes closed.

Mokuba briefly glanced at her before returning his eyes to the road. He was glad he could see Serenity before she set foot in her class, because he really wanted to bring his brother out of the mood he was in and he knew the Serenity was the key. He really did hope the two would talk again – before his brother could be rather reclusive, but now… he thought his brother was going to become completely shut in the mansion. It was a Herculean effort to talk Kaiba into going to college.

"_It's not worth it. I don't need my Master Business degree. I've run Kaiba Corp perfectly fine all these years, so I don't think this degree is going to add to that fact in any shape or form," _his brother had grumbled over his coffee and Mokuba had ate some cereal before launching into a whiny tirade until his brother had given in and took off. Mokuba just hoped that Kaiba had actually gone to class and not headed to Kaiba Corp or hid himself somewhere else.

"Seto should be in your class today, but I don't know for sure. He definitely left the house, but I don't know if he actually went to the college or not. But thumbs up, right? We can be hopeful. Uh… just take it slow because I don't think he's really in the mood to talk. So careful, to warn you," Mokuba hurriedly said as he pulled up outside the college's main building. Serenity had been quietly tired, but when Mokuba mentioned Kaiba, she was wide awake and listening carefully to what Mokuba had to say. She knew she had to be careful – it had turned into such a delicate situation – but she couldn't help but get fired up at the thought that Kaiba kept blaming himself for her getting injured. It was foolish and made her want to slap him, which was out of the question but… thinking of it did no harm.

"Mokuba, thanks for the heads up. I'm glad he's not trying to avoid me and sacrifice his grades in the process. Well, I better be going or I'll be late!" Serenity said chirpily, giving Mokuba a quick hug before getting out to begin her run into the building. Mokuba frowned, praying for all that was good and responsible in the world to make his brother see reason and attend class. If he didn't… he wasn't sure how Serenity was going to react.

With a burden laden sigh, the teenager sped off to his school before he too was late.

&&&&&

Kaiba had woken up that morning with a massive headache that he thought was going to kill him. It must be the stress of work, he reasoned before sluggishly making his way to the en suite bathroom for a shower. His head still pounded to the point he didn't think he was ever going to be able to think straight again. With a mild growl, he fished out some painkillers from the nearby bathroom medical cabinet and took them while examining his face in the mirror.

It was quite pale, with noticeable shadows under his eyes and an overall withdrawn look about his face. It wasn't very pleasing to the eyes, but there was nothing to be done; His head pounded too much. He got dressed in his usual neat clothing; a pair of pressed navy trousers and a starchy white shirt buttoned up several buttons short of his collar. One of his prized flowing jackets, navy also, which fitted snugly. With an anguished sigh, he made his way to the kitchen where Mokuba sat eating cereal in his usual messy and annoying way. Mess irritated Kaiba to no end and the mess he was now facing in the form of Serenity Wheeler and the question of going to college was irritating him beyond all else. He decided as he made his usual strong black coffee that it was because he had never got himself into such disorder before.

"So what're you doing today, Seto?" Mokuba said through a mouthful of cereal and Kaiba threw his brother a look of disgust before attending to his coffee, which was ready to drink. He needed as much caffeine as he could get. His head was still throbbing but he knew in his heart he had to go into college. He would only look weak and there was one thing that made Kaiba livid was the insinuation that he could be weak in any way. But still… he didn't want to see Serenity, which posed a major problem as she was certainly going to be there today. It couldn't be avoided. A pall of moodiness took him and he sat himself at the breakfast bar, hunched over his coffee and ignoring Mokuba as he watched Kaiba while munching lazily on his cereal. Kaiba couldn't stand it anymore.

"It's not worth it. I don't need my Master Business degree. I've run Kaiba Corp perfectly fine all these years, so I don't think this degree is going to add to that fact in any shape or form." He tried to sound casual, but his hunching and refusal to look at his brother's disgusting eating habits made it sound more like a mumble. Kaiba risked a glance his brother's way and saw Mokuba shovel in another spoonful of cereal, first with a thoughtful expression on his face, but it soon turned to annoyed, and he proceeded rant with food still in his mouth.

"Seto! You have to go into college 'cause if you don't then you won't get your Masters and I don't care what you say, you do care about that award because otherwise you wouldn't have begun the course in the first place!" Kaiba was taking in a long draft of coffee, so was unable to prevent Mokuba's tirade. He hated it when Mokuba put on his whiny voice that grated Kaiba's headache even worse. He would do anything to get away from it.

With a baleful glare Kaiba rose to his feet, placed his empty cup into the dishwasher and left the mansion before Mokuba could continue his rambling. Kaiba couldn't stand it when his brother whined so. And now he was out of the mansion with a decision at hand. On the one hand to go elsewhere would conveniently allow him to avoid Serenity and deal with the whole issue between himself and her, while on the other hand he would look pathetic just avoiding a situation rather than dealing with it. He would also face the problem of exactly _why_ he couldn't attend Mr. Bamako's class. A headache as an excuse would sound like he was feeble… it was ridiculous! He sighed and smoothly headed over to his car, making his decision.

The engine revved once, twice and he was gone in seconds.

&&&&&&&

Serenity scolded herself for feeling nervous about entering her class for the first time in over a week. Mr. Bamako was well aware of what happened to her and told her it was alright for her to take much needed time off to recover. She took work they were doing and tried to do it even though he had told her she didn't need to do it and that everything would be fine. Admittedly she didn't get much done, but still she was glad she made the effort and pushed herself to even loosely keep up with the rest of the class.

The tension was unbearable as she descended the stairs to the long corridor that led to the Business class. She remembered the time she bumped into Kaiba, when she really looked at him for the first time. The day had been both the best and worst day in a long while for Serenity, but today she found a smile playing on her lips at the memory of herself falling backwards through the door only to be caught by Kaiba and seen by the whole class. She shook her head and continued on. She had to find out what had happened – whether Kaiba had shown up or not. Serenity's stomach was getting unsettled as she realised she had reached the door to her class. She could even faintly hear the rumble of Mr. Bamako having a conversation with one of the students before class began.

Jittery, Serenity took a deep breath and opened the door to see Mr. Bamako look up and smile warmly. Next to him was Vaughn, who looked uncomfortable to see her again, but gave a small wave. Serenity saw the rest of the class was empty. Now she was plainly confused and Mr. Bamako began to explain.

"The class has been moved to the room four doors down in the art department for a business film I'm going to show you. Mr. Nichol and I stayed behind to notify students. It's good to see you here and healthy, Serenity. I think you're the last student, so you and Vaughn go down to the class and I'll follow shortly," Mr. Bamako informed her as he began to pack his things up. Serenity gaped as Vaughn came over, a shy smile making his face light up as he slung a bag across his back.

They left together, but Serenity didn't know what to say and felt as uncomfortable as Vaughn had looked earlier. The two moved on in silence until Serenity couldn't take it anymore and looked over to him.

"I'm sorry about how I treated you, if it was too… abrupt," she apologised, "I mean, I know I hurt you being that way but I was preoccupied with something else at the time that was… urgent."

She felt lame for sounding so apologetic and trying to sound like a good person, but conversely she felt she had been honest with him. And honesty is always the best policy, her mother had always said. Still… she knew she had pretty much snapped 'no' at him before disappearing to avoid seeing how she'd hurt him; the damage she had done.

"Really, it's alright. It would have been horrible if you had said yes, but didn't mean it. I've recovered just fine – I'm more concerned that you got attacked and were in hospital for a week! What happened?" he asked, relaxing and clearing becoming more comfortable in her presence. Serenity was glad her speech helped a little – she hated not being friends with people and prided herself on being nice.

Well, most of the time, anyway. Kaiba could be an exception at times.

"I'm fine, I'm rested and great. My friend who was hurt by the same person was worrying for a while, but he's awake and getting better now," Serenity answered, distracted from all the tension she was experiencing only moments ago. She became glad of Vaughn's company, but her mind still drifted to whether Kaiba had turned up or not. She was feeling far calmer and less concerned about Kaiba's appearance. So perhaps he didn't show up – so what? She wasn't going to cry about it, she was going to watch the film, take notes and learn.

Vaughn reached the class and held the door open. Putting on a cheery face, Serenity gave Vaughn a smile and thanked him before stepping through. Her eyes glanced around the classroom, but the light was dim because the film had just been put on. People were littered around on chairs. One head turned and Serenity found herself locked with intense blue eyes.

"Hello, Serenity," Kaiba whispered coolly. Serenity was stuck in a moment of shock at his smooth reaction to her appearance. She swallowed and moved toward him, taking the seat beside him and faced him, her face desperately trying to hint at nothing.

"Kaiba. Aren't you glad to see me?" Serenity asked, trying to sound equally cool, but still she belied the confusion at his reaction. Her insecurity, her scrutiny of Kaiba was showing clearer than she would have liked, but she couldn't cover it. Serenity was thankful that the dimness of the lights obscured her face a little.

Kaiba gave nothing away on his face; he was as glacial as ever. However, Serenity noticed the telling circles under his eyes and couldn't help but feel a little concerned about Kaiba's welfare, even if his apparent lack of concern for her stung somewhat. She guessed he was being guarded with her, but truly she had no clue what went on in his head and it irritated her. She had fallen in love with him, Serenity thought as she watching him in the poor light, but she knew hardly anything about him. Kaiba meanwhile finally decided to answer her, though he looked decidedly bored.

"Of course I'm glad to see you," he said, looking at the screen the film was playing on, "but I don't know what we are going to do about that project. I filled in a few pieces, but you hoarded some of the papers I wanted, so I couldn't do anymore."

When he fell silent, Serenity wasn't sure what to say; she didn't know what Kaiba was getting at. Did he want her to hand over the project so he could continue on alone like he wished to in the beginning? Or perhaps he was suggesting she bring the papers over and they continue like nothing had happened? The confusion was driving Serenity mad. She hated not knowing where she stood with him. After several long minutes, Serenity decided on what she would say.

"Well, when are we going to collaborate? Tomorrow?" she asked in a hushed voice and Kaiba sighed before turning to face her. His eyes glimmered in the poor light, his face a little less stony than Serenity remembered. Still, the worn qualities his featured had developed took away from his handsomeness and it worried Serenity.

'_What has he been doing the past week?'_ Serenity questioned, her teeth slowly biting down on her lip.

"Tomorrow is fine. We'll work at my place, as usual." He leaned forward and Serenity was surprised. For a split second she thought he was going to kiss her, but he merely plucked a piece of lint from her shoulder and smirked. A fiery blush consumed Serenity's face; she knew that he recognised what was going on in her head and couldn't believe she had really thought that. She was perfectly aware of what had been going on the past week or so – Kaiba had tried to ditch her, their relationship was at some strange point where she had no idea what to classify what they shared, she was painfully in love with him and had confessed it to Mai when she wished she had kept it to herself. And then she had got hurt and Kaiba had avoided her until now when he behaved as if nothing had happened.

Serenity would never understand him, but she wanted to too much. She wanted him unravelled, and soon. Could she bear to confess her feelings? Her skin shivered at the mere thought. And now she felt all hot and bothered sitting next to him, things still feeling awkward between them.

For now, Serenity turned her attention to the film she had failed to pay attention to for the past five minutes and decided to let things lie for a while. Today was not the day she could dredge up all the problems the two were suffering, but she knew she must set things to rights.

'_Honesty is the best policy. True. But this is going to be messy and probably hurt,'_ Serenity thought a little darkly. She would have to put up with his charades a little longer.

Just a little longer.

&&&&&&&&&&

Kaiba wasn't happy to see Serenity at all, at first. But when she sat beside him, looking so insecure and bright eyed – her shining eyes had caught him off guard – he relented. He found himself wanting to talk to her. Kaiba was well aware that he had told her he was going to halt the project until she was better, but he simply couldn't help himself. The papers he had were just sitting there, begging to be filled in. And now he felt a little guilty. She didn't mention anything about lying, in fact she looked plainly confused the whole time they spoke to one another. He liked that; keeping her off guard, unsure while he sorted out his own feelings. Kaiba didn't know how he felt – he was so used to living with a clear head that was focused on furthering Kaiba Corp and looking out for Mokuba that there was no room to feel one way or another about things. That was the whole purpose of Gozaburo's tutorial he had endured. But slowly he found the more time he spent with Serenity, the passion began to seep into his being like a slow burning fire.

Now Kaiba found himself getting mad at her, temperamental and for the first time in a long while _feeling_. It was stupid, he thought bitterly, that he had a reputation for firing a lot of people and outsiders assumed he was an angry, callous man. But when he looked back, he was simply cold and calculating. Under-performers were fired and his standard was high. Then he looked back at time spent with Serenity and he really had fired people because he was ticked off. It startled him somewhat to realise that. It felt almost like a epiphany, but was nowhere near as severe. His realisation was more of a jolt in his heart. And now he didn't know what to do, which only served to irritate him. Kaiba hated being unsure on how to proceed with anything.

Now they were no longer talking and watching the film, Kaiba found his foot tapping irritably and shortly stopped. If he were to tell her all the things that he had experienced since she bustled her way into his life… but that would be impossible. He could not tell anyone. Kaiba's mind could not open up to others. He was closemouthed at the best of times, but with all the complications of the project and his newly developed feelings… he simply couldn't bring himself to say anything. Kaiba wondered if this was a new form of cowardice and dismissed the thought in an instant. He had no time to think on things at the moment. He would wait for tomorrow and see what happened. He noticed Serenity's reaction when he went to remove a piece of fluff from her shoulder and was glad that she too felt something between the two of him. She was just as foolish as he, then. Not that Kaiba would like to admit that he was foolish, but he had always considered emotions to be an unwanted part of himself and to feel them, to be now driven by them, was imprudent in Kaiba's eyes.

He would wait until tomorrow evening. And even then, he did not know what he would do. Kaiba would see to things in his good time. If things happened in an unexpected way, perhaps not to his liking then he would take the project off Serenity's hands for good. Last time was too messy and led to disaster, but if he needed to this time it would be clinical and a clean break. He would not tolerate this fiasco any longer. Tomorrow it would be become a known quantity – he wanted to know the situation in all its messy entanglements. But could he reveal to her his side of the entanglement? Kaiba was not certain. He decided he trusted her, but she was too carefree and open with herself and everyone else; it was altogether possible she would not keep his feelings in confidence like he would with hers.

Perhaps they were doomed to failure. Kaiba mulled on this for a minute and found he wanted it to work. He wanted to help her catch Bakura and put him away for good, he wanted to protect her and he wanted her… Kaiba felt strangled. The words didn't want to come to him even in his mind. He sighed and Serenity glanced at him before settling down again. He wished she had sat elsewhere – she was distracting for him. Kaiba hated her nervous fidgeting.

It would all be out in the open, tomorrow, he hoped. Even if it was ugly, he didn't care. He may well shout if she did. Kaiba grew less comfortable with that thought – he didn't want it to turn into the ugly insulting match it was the last time they faced off. He settled down and lazily took notes. Tomorrow, as they said, was another day.

AN: I found this really hard in the beginning to write. I wrote five hundred words and then couldn't write anymore. University has given me a massive creative boost and here we are. I hope you like this latest chapter. I'm looking forward to what this chapter culminates into next chapter. As for the next chapter, here's the info – chapter eighteen is called Confessions and it basically does what it says on the tin. Meanwhile, look out for Yugi and co as they plan for Bakura's capture. That's all for now, folks! Hope you liked it – Cat Alex


	18. Confessions

AN: Hello! I have some major apologising to do. I am so, so, _so_ sorry this is appallingly late, but I have reasons! To begin, university keeps me extremely busy to begin with. And secondly, I've had major MTB and Yu-Gi-Oh writer's block. I simply couldn't write anything to do with it. But I finally read through the story, which had been so long it seemed fresh and new to me and I began to write like mad and completed the chapter in, like, a day.

Anyway. Thank you so much for your reviews! Because of the rules I can't put up any replied, but I promise I've read and appreciated every single one. I hope people will still read this. They will, won't they? I can hope. Well, I'm back. I can't say when the next chapter will arrive, but I might be able to pull something out over Easter. And one more announcement – this story is in fact drawing to a close. Well, I planned it at twenty or twenty-one chapters, just to let you guys know. I'm aiming for that golden hundred thousand word mark if I can. That's all, I think. Just… enjoy this chapter I lovingly wrote for you guys.

So, now it's time for…

**Chapter Eighteen: Confessions**

"It's time to act."

Yugi's eyes swept across the shop he was minding for his grandfather, noting how determined the friend's he had gathered looked. Admittedly, he felt he could only invite Tristan, Tea and Mai, but that didn't matter. The looks on their faces did. They wanted Bakura under lock and key, just like he did. His head still hurt and he wasn't allowed to do much beyond minding a shop close to his house and sitting, but with the help of Yami-Yugi he could concoct a plan to bring Bakura down and into the hands of the Shinjuku Welfare Facility once more. Yugi didn't know how to feel about Bakura; he knew that deep down Ryou had nothing to do with his evil alter ego's actions, yet still… it cut deep to think back to the night he was struck in the head, only to wake up a few weeks later. The thought of causing all that anxiety made Yugi angry at himself, at Bakura… the rage simmered. He could never openly be mad, it wasn't it his nature, but still was seething under his skin. Whatever anger he wanted to express instead infused into Yami-Yugi's scheming mind.

"You mean about Bakura?" Tea quietly asked, meeting Yugi's eyes for once. Yugi was surprised how steely with determination they were. He supposed that Tea could be fiercely protective of friends, and since she had been unable to save Serenity from harm, she felt obligated to help Yugi now take Bakura down. She had always been there for them all through thick and thin. After his ordeal, Yugi had finally let the issue of Tea lie; as long as she was happy, he would be happy for her. A warm smile spread across Yugi's face at this though and Tea frowned slightly, diverting her eyes once more to another part of the shop's display.

"Of course. Enough is enough. We know Bakura – both his good and bad side. And right now, his bad side has taken over. But if we capture him, and get him to the police, he'll be safe. Maybe one day we'll be about to talk to Ryou again. That's my hope," Yugi explained and the others solemnly nodded.

The two weeks had gone by surprisingly quickly for the group – Yugi had been recovering, while Tea and Tristan had been working hard at college. Mai had been strangely absent from the other's lives, but had been spotted with Joey every so often. This was because of Joey's suddenly decline in exuberance, also keeping his head down and making up for the time he had spent by Serenity's side at hospital. And as for Serenity herself… Yugi sighed. His friend had visited him several times over the past few weeks to make sure he was okay and to confide in him. She wasn't exactly unhappy, but she was by no mean radiating in joy. Her face had a certain look that suggested she was running out of time. She had told him she was working hard on the project with Kaiba, but mentioned little of the supposed relationship that was forming between the two. It was work for all, save himself and Mai.

"So, what's the plan?" said Tristan, taking a seat near the shop counter. Yugi gave the group an inviting nod, and Tea and Mai drew closer. Mai looked incredibly sombre considering how she usually was full of vigour and attitude.

"I think from what I've seen from strange reports and my own attack that Bakura seems to hang around the local park. My plan pretty much hinges on that fact. I want to use myself as bait in order to lure his attack and then you three hide away until he shows up. Then we capture him and bring him in to the police."

"A citizen's arrest, huh? I've always wanted to give that a try," Mai said with a small smile. Yugi gave her an encouraging smile and the woman raised an eyebrow before turning her gaze onto the other two.

"It's so dangerous, though. What if he's too strong for us?" Tea worried, shuffling closer to the seated Tristan.

"Hey, it's one guy against the three of us. We should be able to take him down as long as we've got a net, or some rope or something," Tristan reassured her and Yugi nodded.

"Exactly. The storeroom of the game shop has all kinds of things we could use to contain Bakura. All we have to do it bait him and attack," Yugi explained, slowly getting off his seat and beginning to shuffle toward the back of the shop.

"Wait. Are you really prepared to put yourself in this kind of danger, considering you're not in peak condition? I think we need Joey on this one." Yugi halted, looking back to Mai frowning with concern. He gave her a smile.

"I appreciate the concern, Mai, but Joey's got other things to worry about. His retakes are coming up soon and he's been working so hard – I don't want to distract him with this trouble. And as for my health… I'm willing to put it on the line to catch this man as soon as possible."

"You're absolutely sure about this, Yugi? Because if anyone's going to be hurt in this, it's going to be you," Tea added and Yugi sighed, frowning.

"I've made my decision, guys. And I'm glad you care about me. But we better get moving if we're going to catch Bakura tonight. So who wants to help me find rope?" He gave then a warm smile and Mai rolled her eyes, following him to the back. Tristan briefly shook his head before standing and joining them, while Tea stayed back for a moment, watching the three of them disappear through the back door. She gripped her hand into a fist before going to join them, fear and worry stuck on her face.

&&&&&&&&&&&

It had been a long evening in the Kaiba mansion for Serenity. She had been looking at the same sheets of paper in the main living room for the last two hours without a word. The last two weeks had been trying, but at the same time rewarding. She and Kaiba had been making excellent progress. And no matter how depressing some of the formal paperwork could be compared to the dressy presentation, the mere thought of Mr. Bamako smiling over their joint work they had sampled to him kept her going. It had actually been over a month since the project began, over a month since she had first spoken properly to Seto Kaiba. The man she now was able to confess to herself that she loved. She temporarily looked up from her work to see Kaiba frowning, writing furiously on a piece of paper. Even frowning, she still thought he was handsome. His complexion had improved considerably since the time she had been reunited with him in Business, but something still lingered about him, a trace of not getting proper sleep, or overworking himself.

"What is it, Serenity?" he asked without looking up and Serenity gave a start, first instinctively turning her gaze back to her work before focusing back on Kaiba once more.

"Nothing. I was just thinking." She sat back from her work, deciding she needed a well deserved break and Kaiba kept on with his work.

"Well think without staring at me."

She smiled at his comment; there was no venom, just irritation at being distracted from his work.

Their relationship was firmly at a standstill. They had done nothing but casually talk, occasionally argue over work issues and work non-stop. Serenity had neither the time nor the inclination to start up the fiery subject of their relationship. However… as the two weeks had gone on, emotions had been building up in her that she knew needed to be confessed soon. There had been moments when something unsaid passed between them, but they diverted themselves from it and either turned from each other or went back to the project that dominated their lives.

The one thing that stayed in her mind was the knowledge that the project was drawing to a close. Mr. Bamako had given them the grave news only days ago – the schedule had been moved and instead of six months, they only had two. It was something to do with the timing of the end of the college year and the fact Kaiba would complete his Masters degree at the end of this college year, apparently. And that meant that they had under a month to finish. Which was why herself and Kaiba went work crazy. It was also why she had seen so little of her brother, which she suspected wasn't just because of his retakes. Serenity had the feeling he was avoiding her. Whenever she did manage to catch a hold of him, she was quickly fended off with some excuse of another before he disappeared again.

Serenity had even spoken to Mai, who had dodged a few questions herself. She was beginning to piece together what potentially had happened and it wasn't good for her. She wanted everything to be right again, for her and Joey to talk, for Bakura to be caught and healed, even for her and Kaiba to work out and for Mokuba to be happy. The last she had seen of her friend, he had a swollen black eye and was mumbling to himself about 'just one date', whatever than meant.

She returned to her work for a while, but she was getting restless. It was getting late, she had been working for hours and the emotion she was containing was beginning to grow heavy on her heart. Serenity took in a shaky breath and pushed her papers away, standing and taking a seat on the sofa. She put her feet up and closed her eyes, finally relaxing.

"What are you doing?"

Her eyes opened to reveal Kaiba looking at her quizzically. She spread her arms out, ignoring the fluttering in her heart at the arisen opportunity to air her feelings for him, and lay back.

"I'm doing nothing. I'm tired," she loftily replied, closing her eyes once more. She heard Kaiba grunt and the noise of him writing once more. Now this was something for her to pay attention to. Usually at this point – when she got tired of working and Kaiba still had about five more hours of work in him – he would call for the limo and walk her out, where she'd be driven home. So him just leaving her here was a turn up for the books. She looked at him working without paying anymore attention to her and wondered what made today different.

As she watched him, her heart began to ache and she tried to push her feelings away. Funny how she was trying to be like he was – cool an indifferent to what he felt. It didn't make her laugh, though.

With the growing feeling in her chest starting to suffocate her and Kaiba not being his usual self, something in her mind decided that this had the potential to be the time to tell him how she felt. That didn't stop her being afraid. He was ignoring her, to begin with. Maybe he didn't call for the limo because he couldn't be bothered and expected her to make her own way home. That, or he wanted her to stay. But if he wanted her stay, why would he ignore her? Serenity was at a loss and so remained where she was. She quietly sighed and shuffled into a sitting position, her mind made up over what to do.

She was going to have to do something before tonight was over.

&&&&&&&&&&&

"Are we ready to take that little punk down?" Mai whispered as they made their way to the local park in the dark.

The group had found some rope that they thought could probably do the job they had in mind. They had even planned how they could position themselves and what to do in order to safely capture Bakura without allowing Yugi to come to any harm.

"I think so. Are we there yet?" Tea replied, looking about. Being from a little further away than the others, she wasn't quite so familiar with the area. She held tightly onto Tristan's hand and every so often Tristan gave her a reassuring squeeze. She still was scared, but what sane person wouldn't be in the face of dealing with a man who almost killed one of her friends and badly injured another. The only thoughts that kept her from bolting were that they would stop Bakura from hurting anyone else and that this would be sufficient revenge for what he had done to her friends. Tea was aware that there was a difference between Bakura and Ryou Bakura, but he had been possessed so long it was hard to even believe there was anything left of the friend they had known.

"Almost. Everyone knows what to do, right?" said Yugi, eyeing the others. Mai wasn't far behind him, shrewdly eyeing their surroundings as if she was in the habit of doing things like this a lot. Tea was practically stuck to Tristan, while Tristan himself had a whole length of rope slung over a shoulder almost like a lasso.

"Do you really think we can do this?" Tea asked, her fearful eyes connecting with each of them. The group shuffled closer for a moment, each reacting in their own way, Tea straining to see them clearly in the gloom.

Mai sighed, but nodded, "I would have preferred Joey to be here, but as we are I think we'll do just fine against one psychotic loser."

Tristan gave Tea a smile, "If we do this now, it'll all be over and we can rest easy from now on."

And lastly, Yugi looked at her. He didn't nod or smile, but something in his large eyes told her they would be fine. For once his eyes warmed her, instead of creeping her out.

"We shouldn't be telling you this is okay, Tea. It's your choice to be here. Do you want to be here?"

Tea looked down at the pavement, her face crumpled in a mixture of emotions. She didn't know what to say; the fear and need for retribution burned in her, neither with more power than another. Tristan watched her, willing her not to run away. After some minutes, she straightened with resolve in her eyes.

"I want to be here. I can't leave you guys alone," she said with a small smile and Tristan embraced her while Mai and Yugi shared a grin.

"Well, now that's sorted… shall we kick some Bakura butt?" Mai said, tossing her wavy hair over a shoulder. The others nodded, a determined group, and proceeded into the dark secluded park.

&&&&&&&&&&&

Meanwhile, Serenity was thinking about how she should approach Kaiba. The tension was beginning to grow between the two of them. Sure, they were able to work without many problems, but still something unsaid hung between them. She tried to ignore it, she really did, but when she lay in bed at night… It was somewhere she couldn't escape. And all that turned in her mind was how to deal with the situation of confessing the truth to Kaiba. Serenity had developed a thousand ways in her mind, but in the here and now they seemed stupidly useless.

And he still hadn't said a word to her or paid the least bit of attention to her. It was approaching half an hour since she said she was tired of working. It was beginning to irritate her. Did he really want her to walk home at night by herself?

"Hey," she began, waiting for him to react. He apparently didn't hear her, so she stood and cleared her throat, "_Hey_!"

He looked up, a mild bewilderment clear on his face before it cleared to realisation at her standing there. He put his pen down.

"What is it?" he said a little testily, eyeing her with annoyance. Serenity sighed and briefly closed her eyes before deciding to answer him. Sometimes it was all she could do to stop herself yelling at him. Considering how he was brought up by high society, he had few manners at times.

"How am I going to get home?" she replied, her eyebrows rose questioningly. Kaiba merely rolled his eyes before picking his pen up again.

"Is that all you want to know?" Kaiba sighed with aggravation before beginning to return to his work. At this point the thoughts of their previous conversations, well arguments, began to surface in Serenity's mind and her blood began to boil. When would he listen to her, answer her important questions and finally tell her how he felt. Being such an open individual, she couldn't really understand why he found it so hard to say how he felt. And because of this, his lack of communication made her angry.

"No, it isn't," she decided suddenly. Her instincts had been right; this was the time to open this can of worms. She didn't care how much it hurt – it hurt her more _not_ to know. Kaiba put his pen down again and folded his arms.

"Then what else do you want to know? This project isn't going to finish itself." His haughtiness only served to fire her up even more. Seeing her appear set to explode, he stood and began to move toward her. He wasn't sure what he was going to do when he got there – try and drive some sense into her, or something else… he'd rather not think about it.

"Seto… what do you feel about me?" she pressed him, waiting to see how he would react. Kaiba halted, rooted to the spot, his eyes focused intensely on her. In that moment, Serenity knew she was once more faced with an uphill battle.

"It's none of your concern." His eyes burned fiercely and Serenity watched him, anger firing her up. She hated it when he became cagey!

"It _is_ my concern, since it is _me_ these feelings are about!" she snapped, balling her fists, and Kaiba narrowed his eyes. She recognised when he did that he was beginning to get angry, while simultaneously trying to shut his emotions down. It was a dangerous path to tread, but to make him angry was to get him to do something – anything – genuine. For in the heat of emotion, Serenity knew his control would last only so long. And spending so much time with him, she was familiar with every button she could press to set him off.

"Whatever you say, but I believe I have ownership of them. Therefore I can choose whether to divulge them or not," he calmly replied, a muscle in his jaw twitching wildly.

"Why do you find it so hard to talk to me about things like that? We talk about the project fine. We even talk about Mokuba fine, but as soon as it gets personal, you shut down. I've told you personal things about me!" she shouted, determined to gain the truth. Kaiba glared.

"I didn't ask for you to tell me anything. I believe I specifically remember telling you I didn't want to know anything about you. And as for me telling you anything about myself… its called _personal_ for a reason," he said in his silky angered voice he reserved for when he wanted a subject closed, and closed fast.

"Not even anything from that past? Something that's done and gone?"

"But what you want to know is here in the present. You want to know how I feel about you right now," he retorted, "of course unless you want me to tell you how I used to feel about you. I used to detest you with all my heart, and then some. Your brother, your little friends… and especially Yugi." His tone dripped with venom, but Serenity wasn't in the least flustered.

"But as you said… that isn't what I was asking about. It's in the past, done and gone. What you felt then doesn't matter anymore. I want to get to the here and now."

Kaiba began to turn away from her, either too angry or simply unable to face her, Serenity wasn't sure. If there was one thing Kaiba couldn't stand, it was someone trying to force his hand. Losing control was something Gozaburo had explicitly taught him not to do, and since meeting Serenity… well, he hadn't lived up to that lesson particularly well.

"I'm not going to tell you. Just like you're not going to tell me," he growled and Serenity had had enough.

"You haven't the strength to admit something like – like you may even _love_ me or something!" she shouted, her emotions getting the better of her. She approached him, not content to have him turn his back on her and stood before him, blazing. He'd been like this all his life, how could she expect him to change overnight? But now Serenity felt like she had waited too long and she wasn't sure she could take it anymore.

Kaiba remained silent, but she could see the turmoil and anger fighting in his eyes and boring into hers. Serenity wasn't sure if she was on dangerous ground, but stood fast, half wilfully, half pure fear rooting her to the spot.

"You look down on people, so you don't even see a person standing there anymore, just meat to tear into! What… what am I to you? Some kind of business partner? Joey's sister? Something more?" she almost taunted and Kaiba wasn't sure he could take her presence anymore.

In a flash, Kaiba lunged toward her and pulled her tightly into his arms, weaving his hands around her waist and pressing his lips urgently to hers. Serenity was in shock of the sudden action, but felt herself sinking into it and being stirred by the passion he had outburst with, finding herself kissing him back with a similar need.

After what seemed like a small eternity, they finally parted, Serenity feeling weak at the knees and resting her head against Kaiba's chest.

They remained silent, both seeming to weigh up the situation. Both were tense against one another and Serenity wondered how she had ended up in this situation. Was it from running into him which triggered it all? Perhaps it was Mr. Bamako's choice, or the fact that she had persistently kept herself on the project when she wasn't wanted? But now she was here and Serenity became frightened of what had just taken place.

Kaiba froze at his actions. What had taken over was the worse surge of emotions he had felt so far. And they had directed him straight to Serenity, to his annoyance, but also to his delight. He liked possessing Serenity, and wanted to continue doing so. He had enjoyed the feeling of contact with her, but a part of him also was thoroughly disgusted. Kaiba let her go and moved away, as if what he had done was nothing and turned away.

'_What does she think of me?'_ Kaiba felt sick at the thought and began to wish he hadn't acted in a way so unbecoming of a CEO of Kaiba Corp. Was it so unbecoming?

'_Gozaburo would think so,'_ he noted darkly and felt his heart sink. He could never escape the man; his ways had been too deeply instilled in him. He hated how he heart hoped she felt like he did, but he wasn't even sure he wanted to accept how he felt.

"What is this?" he finally questioned, looking down at her small form against him.

Serenity knew what to say, but did she have the strength to say it? His kiss reassured her, but at the same time put her on edge. They were in a dangerous situation, a final point that would decide the fate of their undefined relationship. Her heart was pounding hard – she could feel her pulse throughout her body. Briefly squeezing her eyes shut, she summoned up her courage and raised her head up to meet Kaiba's eyes.

"Seto… this is love. I… I love you."

AN: I hope this isn't too much of a cliffie for you guys. I apologise for it, but it's necessary. I want you guys on the edges of your seats! So, shall I give you a preview into the next chapter? Of course I will – I love you guys! Chapter nineteen is called Rewarding Teamwork and will feature whether Yugi and company manage to capture that pesky Bakura. Will we finally learn why Bakura's been doing what he's been doing… whatever he was doing to Serenity. All may be revealed! And on that note, I'll see you soon! Cat Alex out for the count!


	19. Rewarding Teamwork

**AN:** We're slowly drawing to close. I can't believe it myself. Explanations abound in this chapter and action! I hope you people like this chapter. I apologise for the slight shortness of the chapter – it clocks in at about 3770 words – but I swear every words was positively _squeezed_ out of me. I found this difficult to make an entire chapter out of it, to be honest. I'm rambling. The only things I'm going to say are – I can't believe this is finally drawing to a close; I'm both a little sad and kinda relieved this behemoth can be put to rest. Also, I thank all the reviewers – without you guys, this thing would be dead in the water! So, thank you all so much – I appreciate every one of you! My hit count is sky high thanks to you guys! That's all I have to say, except enjoy what you are about to read! Well, hope you enjoy! Um… here ya go, folks!

Presenting…

**Chapter Nineteen: Rewarding Teamwork**

The darkness blanketed Tea so much she began to feel suffocated. Fear was choking her already as she hid in the bushes. Adding the darkness only served to intensify what she felt. The plan was dangerous, but the reward would be great. Yugi had reassured them and now here she crouched, peering out at the path where Yugi wandered aimlessly. He looked as conspicuous as they could come, but he had told her that it wouldn't matter to someone like Bakura.

She hoped he was right. It had already been three hours and there had been no sign of him. Off to her right she could just make out Tristan crouching. Each of them held a segment of rope, ready to pounce if he showed up. She wanted to speak to Tristan while they waited, but there was no chance. Tea's relationship with him had its moments – times where she wasn't sure if he was as committed to the relationship as she was, but lately he had shown her that Serenity wasn't as near and dear to him as she used to be. And despite trying not to harbour any feelings of jealousy, she was glad he no longer took a close interest in Serenity.

Now he was spending as much time as he could with her; waiting for her to get out of her dance classes, taking the local train with her to work and home if he could manage it. And they were all shocked and upset when Serenity and Yugi were hurt, but Tristan didn't lose control as soon as he discovered it was Bakura and immediately go out to hurt him. With each passing week she spent with him, her heart grew and she found herself smiling every single day. However, now wasn't a time for love and joy. Fear still pervaded her heart as she looked around for any sign of movement.

Her heart suddenly leapt when Tristan's eyes connected with hers and he gave her a wide eyed stare, flicking his eyes to the path. Tea hurriedly turned her gaze back to where Yugi was to find their white haired possessed friend stalking quietly towards Yugi. Tea quickly looked to her left at Mai, who gave a nod and mouthed 'on three' to her and she quickly relayed this to Tristan, who also gave a nod.

'_One…'_ Her heart was pounding against her ribs.

'_Two…'_ She licked her lips and tightened her grip on the rope.

'_Three!'_ Tea heaved in a breath before leaping up along with the other two and charging at the would-be assailant.

"Get him!" Mai yelled, swinging around so the rope surrounded Bakura. He glared and went to dodge when anger coursed through Tea's body. This was the man who hurt her friends, who had been terrorising those she loved and therefore her. And with her dancer's grace, she whipped her leg up and put all her power behind her size five shoe into Bakura's head.

"Tea!" Tristan cried out, surprised and somewhat pleased by her actions.

Bakura collapsed to the ground, his eyes fluttering before finally shutting. Mai and Tristan worked quickly and went to truss the white haired man up while Tea stood in shock at what she had done.

"Way to go, girl," Mai congratulated, but before she could say anything more, a fist had hit her in the ribs and she gave a cry. She fell to the floor, all the air knocked out of her and Tea screamed.

"Thought I would fall to you four!" Bakura growled, kicking Tristan's feet out from under him before jumping catlike to his feet. The side of his pale face was red and beginning to swell, but he paid no attention to it, instead approaching Tea.

"Don't touch her!"

Out of the darkness, almost forgotten, Yugi launched his wiry frame at Bakura. His arms wrapped around Bakura's neck, choking him and the two rolled to the ground in a ferocious tussle that Yugi was already weakening in. He was in no shape to be out of his house, let alone fight a lunatic. Tea panicked and threw herself into the fray, yanking the rope in her hand around Bakura's torso and tugging with all her might. She managed to pull him off of Yugi, whose breathing was laden, but had no clue what to do next. She was soon distracted with a scream as Bakura reached out and grabbed a fistful of her hair and tugged hard. Tea reacted instinctively and reached out for his arm, biting down as hard as possible. He howled and released her, but she still had no idea with how to deal with this man. Thankfully Mai had recovered from her attack and stumbled over to help Tea.

"Wrap as much rope around him as possible!" the older woman commanded hoarsely. The two began wrapping as much rope around Bakura as they could manage, but he was soon fighting again. A split second later he was on his feet, an arm pinned with rope to his body. Bakura lashed out with his legs, trying to kick one of the girls. Yugi still remained on the ground, slowly recovering from his intense struggle.

"You think you'll capture me!" screamed Bakura, struggling like a wildcat. Before he could thrash anymore, a shadow came up behind him and calmly punching him in the head. Bakura grunted and relaxed, falling to the cold park pathway.

"And that's what you get for trying to hurt my girlfriend," Tristan panted, shaking his hand, knuckles burning from the impact.

Tea, finally reaching her limit of bravery, burst into tears.

Meanwhile, Yugi lay on the ground. He was in pain, but a smile still graced his lips. Bakura was finally subdued. The plan hadn't exactly… gone to plan, but it had still worked out in the end.

He moved a hand a weakly pushed himself up into a sitting position. Tristan was tying up Bakura tight while Mai had pulled Tea into a tight embrace. Tea was crying, her body shaking with what Yugi supposed was shock and fear. He managed to slowly climb to his feet and make his way to the trio, his chest painfully tight.

"See, guys… I knew we could do it," Yugi wheezed, a hand pressed to his chest.

The others turned, concern on their faces. Yugi came closer and Tristan grabbed the young man as he stumbled on a branch. Tea and Mai gave the two a hug, all finally letting the reality of what had just happened sink in.

"We did it… I can't believe it," Tristan said, a smile making its way onto his lips. Tea nodded, her tears halted. Yugi watched Tea, his longing for her waning as she collapsed into Tristan's arms and the two shared a moment.

'_It's alright, Yugi. I think you've realised it may be time to move on,'_ Yami-Yugi said with a tired sigh. Yugi half nodded to himself. He was too tired and beaten up to say anything to anyone.

Tea watched Yugi in the half-light and saw him flagging. Extricating herself from Tristan's arms, she crossed the gap with Mai toward Yugi. Mai had a slight frown on her face, mixed with concern and reached out a hand to touch Yugi's arm.

"Are you alright? I think you should go home," Mai decided and Yugi could only nod and allow Mai to take a shoulder.

"Tristan, grab Bakura. We'll head to Yugi's and then sort things from there," Mai said, taking charge. Tristan nodded, easily hauling Bakura's thin frame up while Tea helped Mai with Yugi. Together they walked in the silent night, streetlights illuminating their strange group; two girls helping a slim male along while a tall male had a white haired undetermined individual, looking from across the street, over his shoulder bound in rope.

Eventually they reached the Grandpa Moto's shop and went in to rest for a while. Yugi sat, Bakura near to his feet and Yami-Yugi stirred within him.

'_You are weak, friend. Let me take over and deal with Bakura's Millennium Ring. No-one else must touch it or they may fall prey to its influences as Ryou did.'_

All Yugi could do was nod and allow Yami-Yugi to take over, glad to rest for a short while. Yami-Yugi stood; his strength carrying their weakened body to Bakura's rope entrenched form on the floor and knelt. The others turned to watch as their friend gently pulled the golden item from around Bakura's neck and stood. With a frown of concentration, he cupped his hands around the millennium ring and closed his maroon eyes. The man took a deep, slow breath before muttering something no-one could make out. Mai stepped closer, intrigued by what was going on while Tea and Tristan stayed back, afraid.

Bakura slowly started to twitch under the ropes, gnashing his teeth, his eyes flicking open to glare up at Yami-Yugi's calm face. He suddenly jerked and began to fight viciously against the ropes, gasping to yell but making no sound.

A golden glow began to leak from the gaps between Yami-Yugi's fingers and edges of his hands. Mai inhaled with awe as the light changed and began to curl and seep from around his hands as if alive, like a snake, then dissipated. Yami-Yugi released the breath he had been holding and slowly opened his eyes again.

"It is done. I have managed to cleanse the Millennium Ring, at least for a time. But I doubt the evil within it can be permanently banished. We may be able to finally find out what Bakura was planning to do from Ryou now he is free," Yami-Yugi said gravely, sitting down again.

With a sigh, Yami-Yugi let go of Yugi's body, sinking back into the young man's mind. Yugi felt a little rejuvenated, but his chest still ached. The other three moved over to Yugi, standing beside him as Bakura had stopped writhing. Now the white haired man lay still, his breathing shallow yet even.

"Is he alright?" asked Tea nervously, inching herself behind Tristan slightly.

Yugi nodded, giving a small smile to the group before moving back to Bakura once more.

"He's been cleansed too – the evil that's been possessing Bakura is sealed, at least for a time. He's just Ryou now," Yugi explained, excitement tingeing his voice.

Bakura groaned and his brown eyes fluttered open, roaming for a moment before settling on Yugi's concerned face.

"Yugi? What… what's going on?" he asked fearfully, trying to move but still held in place with the ropes.

"Don't you remember? Ryou, the Millennium Ring took you over again. You've been terrorising friends for over a month now," Yugi explained, quickly motioning to Mai to come over. Together they hauled Bakura into a sitting position, propping him up against the game shop counter.

Bakura averted their questioning gazes, staring at his legs. Grief shot through his eyes and tears threatened to fall. Still, he pulled himself together and faced Yugi once more.

"I remember parts. I… can't believe it happened again," he paused, pain marring his soft features, "Images of wandering in a park… in a house…"

He stopped, his breathing deteriorating again and Yugi's eyes widened, reaching out and loosening the ropes. Bakura gave him a grateful look before relaxing while Mai still watched him with reservation, a hand balled into a fist just in case. Tea and Tristan stood to the side beside where Yugi had been sitting, each watching Bakura with their own mixture of concern and fear.

"Ryou, we need to know why; why Yami-Bakura hurt me and Serenity, what he was planning. Can you tell us that?" Yugi pushed and Bakura closed his eyes tight.

"I'm trying to remember, but it's all jumbled. Something about a ring," he murmured.

"The Millennium Ring?" Bakura shook his head.

"Just a ring, in a big display case. He… he thought it had some kind of vestige of power, that it would do something to empower the Millennium Ring," Bakura said, weakening before their eyes. Yugi leaned closer, desperate to learn the full truth of the matter.

"Is that all? He just wanted more power from the ring?"

"No… he was going to use it for something. He was going to use the power gained to get other Millennium items."

"For more power?"

"Yes. It's all he ever wanted." Yugi could see Bakura was flagging and needed rest, but he needed to know everything he could. He needed to be put at ease finally.

"Then why attack Serenity? I can understand why he would attack me, but there was no need to hurt her," he said, anger gripping him for a moment.

"Serenity… is she alright?"

"No thanks to you," Mai chipped in and Bakura looked guilty.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. You'll never know how sorry I am. Please… is she alright?" His eyes were so soulful, Mai relented and uncurled her fist while Yugi nodded.

"She's fine now. But why did he do it?"

"To divert people's attention. Bakura saw how she was spending time with the ring's owner… Kaiba, right? He wanted everyone's focus drawn away from what he really wanted. And you… he wanted revenge," Bakura trailed, briefly closing his eyes.

"That was all?"

"I can feel some of him still inside me, burning with hate. He hated you, Yugi. Yami-Yugi especially. But he was also afraid of Yami-Yugi. And he would have done anything to stop him interfering."

Yugi nodded, "And he did. Ryou, thank you for helping. We need to get you somewhere safe, away from the Millennium Ring."

Bakura began to slide out of consciousness, nodding vaguely.

"The hospital…"

"I agree," said Mai, "you two both need medical attention."

Yugi sighed, but gave a resigned nod, slumping against the game shop counter beside Bakura. His large maroon eyes closed and he looked peaceful at last. For the first time since Bakura had been explaining, Tea moved and headed straight for the Moto game shop's phone. She quickly dialled for an ambulance and spoke for a few minutes before replacing the receiver and sitting down on a chair, taking a shaky breath.

"It's scary," she said, warily eyeing Bakura, "to think that someone so kind and innocent can be made to do such terrible things. It frightens me. Sometimes I think that about Yugi even though the spirit, or whatever it is inside him, is good."

Tristan approached her, gently wrapping his arms around her from behind and she sank back into his embrace. Mai watched with a small smile, understanding what the girl meant.

"It's the thought that one day he may not be in control of himself. With Joey I know he won't be anything but his own dumb self. It's reassuring. But Yugi isn't something to fear, he's someone to admire. He has given another person a chance to see the world even though his life is used in order for another person to see it. He's too kind – I wouldn't do it," Mai said impassively, concealing all emotion from her face as she knelt and pulled the rest of Bakura's ropes off of his body.

Tea didn't know what to say – Mai understood where she came from and was glad. She said nothing and simply allowed herself to be held, all the while watching Yugi's motionless form rest as the ambulance sirens grew louder.

&&&&&&&&

No-one knew how to explain exactly what had happened to the two young men being rushed to hospital. Questions about why it looked like Bakura had been kicked in the side of the face, the heavy bite mark in his arm or why he and Yugi had finger like bruises forming around their throats were sheepishly vaguely explained away or dodged altogether. They weren't allowed to join the two in the ambulance and Mai had acted swiftly, dialling a reliable taxi service. The three waited out on the cold night street in front of the Moto store.

Mai pulled her jacket closer to her and folded her arms to try and keep warm, cursing herself for retaining her image over keeping warm. She wondered what Joey would be doing right now.

'_Sleeping. Easy,'_ she thought, a smile creeping onto her wind numbed features, but it soon faded, _'Well, that or revising nowadays.'_

"Mai, I've been thinking. Do you think we should call the police out? You know, because of what Bakura did?" Tea gingerly asked and Mai took out her mobile, giving it a slight wave. Her face was grim, a touch of sadness in her eyes and an unemotional smile on her lips.

"I already did after the taxi call. They're gonna meet us at the hospital."

Tea nodded, appreciative of how she felt. As glad as she was that Bakura was no longer possessed, there was always the fear of how long it would be before he was taken over again. In past history, the Millennium Ring always had a habit of finding its way back into Bakura's possession and ultimately taking over Bakura once more. And Tea was aware that as tough and carefree Mai could appear to be, she also had a sense of insecurity – tonight alone was a good example of the fear that was inside of Mai. Tea wouldn't say that meant that Mai wasn't strong – she knew she had no place, when she was so scared so often. She buttoned the top of her coat up as a gust brushed her neck and sighed, distracting herself by looking along the street for any sign of the taxi.

Lastly Tristan stood beside Tea, watching her as she looked down both ends of the street. He knew how fearful Bakura had made her, and he did his best to reassure her; he tried to walk her home or to work whenever he was available. It didn't help that he worked too, on the other side of town no less, but he tried hard to make her feel safe. The events Bakura had set in motion had made him realise his priorities and how he felt about everyone. He loved Tea, he knew that now. He hadn't told her, but he would soon. And as for his infatuation with Serenity… it was now a former infatuation now Kaiba seemed firmly on the scene. When Serenity had been attacked, it had been shocking and had made him angry, it had also made him worry for Tea. And Tristan had the feeling that Kaiba would take care of Serenity, now they spent all their time together on their 'project'. Tristan gave a soft chuckle and Tea turned her attention to him.

"What's up?" she asked, peering up at him with a cute half-smile that drove him mad.

"Just thinking about how this whole disaster has brought us all closer together," he said casually, stretching his cold stiffened shoulders. He had been in such a rush, it had completely slipped his mind to grab a coat. Tristan was now mentally kicking himself as he gave his arms a rub.

"I know what you mean. I suppose it's something to smile about in the face of all that terror," she gently teased, looking over at Mai.

"What do you think? Good or bad experience?" asked Tea. Mai sighed, shaking her head.

"I think this is an experience that we don't tell my boyfriend about for some time, or until I can get far away enough to avoid his wrath," Mai said dryly, flipping her phone open to check the time.

"How long have we been waiting for that taxi?" said Tristan, leaning past Tea to try and capture a glimpse of the time.

"About ten or so minutes." Mai shut her phone and tucked it into a jacket pocket before folding her arms once more.

"It feels like forever," Tea whispered, tapping a foot impatiently for moment.

"What do you think the police are going to say?" Tristan asked suddenly, fidgeting with his hands nervously. Mai raised an eyebrow, a smile quirking onto his lips briefly.

"Put it this way – I don't think we're getting a medal for what we did," Mai quipped, but belied her concern. Tristan nodded – it made sense. The police weren't in the habit of congratulating a group of people for putting their lives in peril in order to catch a dangerous individual that was gunning for them in particular.

"Still, a little recognition of our efforts wouldn't hurt," he replied, looking up into the inky sky. A few stars were out, but clouds blanketed a large portion of the sky. The street was fairly intimidating even with the streetlights. Tristan couldn't imagine anyone would be out on these local streets at this time. He didn't live far from the Moto shop, unlike the Wheelers and Tea, and knew the area pretty well. Even knowing the area, he still felt a little uneasy.

"Hey, look!" Tea shouted excitedly and pointed at the headlights in the distance.

"Finally," Mai sighed, hand gravitating to her hip as she flipped a portion of golden over a shoulder.

"The police are probably already there. We better start strategising what to say on the way there," Tristan said, his eyes never moving from the headlights.

The taxi pulled came up and drew to a stop and the three shared a look before climbing in and directing the taxi. With a rev as the taxi driver changed gear, the vehicle trundled away from the Moto game shop and disappeared into the night.

&&&&&&&&

Serenity and Kaiba now stood slightly apart, each in their own shocked state. She couldn't believe she had finally said it aloud to him. Her hands shook slightly while her eyes refused to meet his, instead staring in disbelief at her hands.

And Kaiba eyes could not leave her, her words still hanging in the air. His mind, what he felt… it was all… he couldn't put it into words. He didn't want to. But he knew the time had come to explain himself. In her confessing her feelings, he felt obliged to finally make known his own. He would do anything to leave.

However… he had to clarify what had formed between them. Was it love for him, as it was for her?

"Serenity…" he began, swallowing as she raised her eyes to his.

**AN:** I gotta admit – I feel a little bad leaving it like this. But it's a pretty breath holding cliff-hanger! Muhahah! (Ducks people throwing heavy objects) I'm sorry! But it's how the tale wants to be told! I swear! But to attempt to placate people, I shall leave an allusion to what's to come! Next chapter is called The Ties That Bind and will be pretty much a Kaiba and Serenity only chapter. You know what those crazy kids are like. And what will they say? What will Kaiba say! You'll have to wait until a time in the not-so-distant future. And until then, I bid folks an adieu until then! Adieu, Cat Alex.


End file.
